Mafia Note
by Relinquished-Time
Summary: 50 years after Light's death & "birth" the Death Note is dropped to a mafia heiress by mistake. Looks like Antigone Jones has to keep her hands clean while working with spilt blood. & deadly notebooks. LxOC w/ Shinigami Light. BACK FROM HIATUS!
1. Prolouge

_Prologue_

"Light," Ryuuk's ears pricked up at the hearing of footsteps, "that you?"

"Yeah," he replied nonchalantly, a small scowl appearing on his face. He shuddered, and instinctively wrapped his brown cloak tighter around his shoulders._ Who knew it could get this cold?! _Light seethed inwardly.

It had been fifty years since "The Death Note Tragedy" had ended. It had been fifty years since Light _died_.

One problem: Light still held onto Ryuuk's Death Note, even in death itself. Ryuuk had Rem's from when L and Watari had died and took the female Death God with them. _So, _Ryuuk thought, _why not make him a Shinigami? I told him he'd make a great death god…_

And so, Light was reborn as a Shinigami by the name of Snafu, meaning disaster, and has been Ryuuk's "son" since his reincarnation.

"Bring back anything from the other side?" the older Shinigami turned around to face him, his face excited, "A certain-?"

"Apple?" Snafu smirked as he reached behind his back, and displayed a shiny red piece of Ryuuk's only fetish.

"APPLE!!" Ryuuk jumped up and tried to grab his prize. "Light give me the apple!"

Snafu inwardly cringed again at the sound of his birth name, he now thought of his human self as a failure as a God.

"What's the magic word~?" Snafu rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. His voice was an octave higher, it was as if he wanted to imitate Misa.

"GIVE ME THE DAMN APPLE LIGHT YAGAMI!" Ryuuk roared in frustration.

"Oh shit…" Snafu whispered, his eyes widening in realization of how pissed Ryuuk truly was. And all over an apple! His feared expression transformed into an evil smirk, "You want it?" he showed off the forbidden fruit again, "Then go get it!" he threw it over the edge, and the poor, innocent fruit went tumbling back into the Human Realm.

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Ryuuk roared, charging into Snafu's torso like a bull and repeating his ramming technique, "You threw the one thing I've ever craved!"

"Get over it, old man." Snafu said between gritted teeth, trying to get the heavier body away from him.

"You want what you crave?" Ryuuk mimicked Snafu's almost exact words, digging into Snafu's inner pocket and clutching his Death Note, "Then go GET IT!" and with that the rich, completely lethal notebook was flung out of Ryuuk's hand and, like the fruit, fell to the incompetent hands of the Human Realm.

"YOU STUPID BASTARD!" Light shrieked, "Why did you _do _that?!" he pushed Ryuuk out of the way and watched his precious power fall faster and lower into his former home.

"Road trip!" Ryuuk stretched his arms over his head, walking over to the edge of the stretch of land, "You owe me another apple by the way."

"Whatever." he snarled, standing next to him and peered over the edge, "Where do you think it went? Japan again?"

"Nah," he shook his head, "I'll search Asia. You go for America. They'd be stupid enough to actually use it." and with that, they both jumped feet first into the Human Realm.

* * *

"Master Lawliet?" a shimmering Watari stood next to his companion.

"Yes, Watari?" L raised an eyebrow at A: why he was being called "Master Lawliet" and B: what was so important that Watari interrupted his tea time?

"It seems," he cleared his throat, "that we have a situation."

"What type of situation?" he sipped his sugary and syrupy looking tea.

"The Death Note- it's…" the old man sighed, "it's been dropped again."

L's charcoal eyes widened and he spat out his tea all over the platter of sweets, coughing up his drink and sputtering a few words, "I-I beg you pardon?!"

"A Death Note was dropped earlier today," he explained, "we think it was-"

"Kira." he spat out the name as he coughed out the remains of the tea, "I'll get on it right away Watari."

"You're going down?" he looked at the young man with concern.

"Once someone picks it up, yes." L nodded, "I can stop this from happening again, we don't need anymore massacres."

"Good luck, L." Watari's eyes crinkled as he gave L a reassuring smile.

"But before we get onto that subject," L looked at his friend with a cute smile, "can I have some more cake?

**_TBC…_**


	2. Meeting Antigone

_Meeting Antigone_

"Okay class, please recite this line." Mr. Briggs, the French teacher, snapped his fingers to bring the class to order. He pushed his black glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Où est la gare?"

As the old man droned on, there was a girl with long black hair and auburn eyes in the back of the classroom, paying no attention to her studies. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, revealing her snowy shade of skin and bored expression.

_I hate this class, I hate this class, _I hate this fucking class_! _the girl chanted over and over in her thoughts.

"Miss Jones?" Mr. Briggs walked to the back of the classroom and stood right in front of her, a frown covering his features and making his wrinkles more obvious.

"Huh?" she looked up, not even noticing the fact that he was right in front of her.

"Recite the line, _please_." he drummed his fingers against her worn out desk.

Can you be any more annoying? the girl inwardly rolled her eyes and spoke in a bored expression, "Yeah yeah." she sighed and recited a line of her own, "Où puis-je prendre une merde?" she leaned back in her chair, "You always make us recite the stupidest things, Mr. Briggs."

The class erupted in laughter as she smirked in triumph, "So, extra points for the accent?"

"_Antigone…" _Mr. Briggs said through gritted teeth, trying not to lose his cool, "Do you know how many times I've wanted to _die _because of this class?" he pointed an accusing finger to her, "Or more specifically _you!?" _

"Every day since I've been stuck in here." she said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms, "And I don't blame you." she snickered.

The bell rang, signaling the school day had finally come to an end.

"Well, later Mr. Briggs!" Antigone grabbed her black messenger from under her seat and walked casually out of the classroom, leaving her French teacher dumbstruck, angry, and in need of a few shots.

Antigone Jones laughed and took a mock bow as her classmates praised her for her cunning skills and attitude, as they did every day after class.

"It's just fun to see him look so annoyed." she chuckled, "I wonder how many smart-ass comments it would take for him to expel me?"

It had crossed her mind ever since her first day of high school, now it was the last month of Senior year. She had grown an inch - now standing at 5'5 - and had grown out her hair excessively, but other than that she was the same serious, yet sarcastic, teenager she was.

As she grabbed her books and homework from her locker, a chill ran down her spine as the AC was pumped up, "Damn, I hate that thing."

While she walked back to her home on Avenue Q, a man with a shady orange hoodie stepped out of the alleyway between _Gina's Pawn Shop _and _Chen's Chinese Takeout, _"Hey little lady-"

She took the 9 mm handgun out of her pocket and shot the man in the arm instinctively, "I'm not interested in money for sex or drugs. So fuck off, old man."

"Oh," he raspy voice snickered, blotting his bleeding arm, "I'm not interested in _that_." he handed her a red card, "My boss is interested in making a deal with you-"

"Uncle Andy, I'm your boss' _daughter!" _she slapped the man across the face, causing the hood to fall back and reveal his face, "It's me!"

His face registered shock, and then happiness, "Oh, Antigone!" he laughed, his raspy voice was now rough and gravelly, "Sorry sweetie, I didn't know." he wrapped his niece in a bone-crushing hug, "How was school?"

"I asked Mr. Briggs where I could take a shit." she shrugged as he released her, "C'mon, Dad must be worried."

As they walked, Andy and Antigone talked more about their day until they reached his Mercedes.

She climbed into the passenger seat, "Why were you out on Avenue Q today? Don't you take Avenue T?" she settled her bag between her legs.

"Sammy's back." he shrugged as her lips formed an "O" shape. They said nothing more on the way home.

....

"Antigone!" her father smiled brightly as she and Andy walked through the door, "Welcome home!"

He shared his charcoal black hair with his only daughter, along with his pale complexion and thin frame. He was mistaken to be the infamous L Lawliet's brother or perhaps a long-lost son on many occasions. And always the family laughed and said it was a common misconception.

_It seems out of the ordinary that Dad's smiling, not to mention he's waiting for me to come home from school_. Antigone pondered in confusion, _He's usually in his office and always frowning at his paperwork. Could he have sent out Uncle Andy to test me or something? _

_Nothing in this house is, was, or will be ordinary_. She concluded with a silent nod,_ And why should it be? _

Her family was the most hated family in the world. Hell, the Joneses were the head family of the Mafia! They called the shots in secret, they tangoed with death everyday, not to mention they knew every single in and out of the world. Most were shocked that they hadn't been wiped out during the Death Note Tragedy for all their terrible crimes over the past century.

"Thanks Dad." she collected her thoughts and tried to smile in return.

He kissed the top of her forehead, the bright smile now fading to a remorseful one, "I have some bad news, kid."

"Huh?" she raised an eyebrow, looking up at him with a concerned expression, "What's up?"

Her father took out his iPhone and scrolled through the news page, "Take a look."

She read over the highlighted article, "Today in Keystone, South Dakota, a bombing was placed on Mount Rushmore. We suspected that it was an enemy terrorist from Afghanistan or Al Qaeda, but it was actually a Mexican native, who screamed _"Usted no es el hogar de los valientes! Usted es el hogar de los cobardes!"_ meaning _"You are not the home of the brave! You are the home of the cowards!" _Jose Bias has been taken into custody by state troopers and his crime is now placed under the various terrorist attacks we've encountered over the past two years. No one was hurt, but the damages to the monument will cost us in millions." she finished, shaking her head, "So America's under fire again?"

"They're expecting more, sweetie." her mother chimed in as she leaned on the doorway, "Don't worry, we'll be fine." she gave her daughter a reassuring smile.

Antigone had her mother's eyes, known as "Kira's Eyes" because of the freakish resemblance, and she inherited her mother's optimistic outlook on things. No one could ever hate Margaret Rose Intaglio Jones, she was too nice.

Antigone smiled back, "We can only hope."

"Come, dinner's ready." she turned on her heel and swayed back into the dining room, her red curls bouncing along with every step.

Dinner was uneventful. The main course was steak sirloin and mashed potatoes, the typical Wednesday dinner. Until Antigone's mother dragged her father out into the hall.

Uncle Andy shrugged, giving her the OK to sneak in onto the conversation. She nodded, kissed his cheek, and snuck behind the twin snow white pillars.

"Brendan, maybe you should wait." her mother whispered, her eyes pleading and trying to reason with her husband.

_What could be so bad that Mom had to literally drag Dad out into the hallway? _Antigone wondered, trying to get a closer look of their expressions and straining to hear them.

"Margaret," he smiled wearily, taking her hands into his and kissing her forehead tenderly, "I only do what's right for my family, this can help us if anything."

**_TBC…

* * *

_**

Translations (In chronological order)

Where is the train station?

Where can I take a shit?


	3. There is Nothing Holy About the DN

"_There is nothing holy about the Death Note"_

"_Brendan, maybe you should wait." her mother whispered, her eyes pleading and trying to reason with her husband._

What could be so bad that Mom had to literally drag Dad out into the hallway? _Antigone wondered, trying to get a closer look of their expressions and straining to hear them. _

"_Margaret," he smiled wearily, taking her hands into his and kissing her forehead tenderly, "I only do what's right for my family, this can help us if anything."_

His wife sighed and kissed him chastely on the lips, "No matter what, we're all a family."

They began to walk back in, causing Antigone to run back into the dining room and situate herself in her seat. 

Once she had everything back in place as they were before, Andy pulled his best "New Yawk" accent to try to lighten her mood, "What's the news, boss?" 

"Something's screwy, Paulie." Antigone replied, shaking her head. 

"What about me?!" a big burly man, Antigone's older brother, roared from the other side of the table.

"Nothing, I'm just kidding." she sighed, picked up her fork, and began to stab at her steak like she had when she was younger.

"Everyone!" their leader was back inside and standing behind his seat, "We have an announcement to make-" 

"Have we been found out?" Paulie's dark green eyes locked with his father's, flashing from concern, to anger, to the most surprising emotion of them all: fear.

His father shook his head, "No, not in the slightest. But," he grabbed a manila envelope out from behind his back, "I wanted you all to hear this the same time I did." he handed the expensive looking paper to his daughter, "Antigone?" 

"Yeah, sure." she shrugged, opening the envelope and putting on her black framed reading glasses, "Dear Mr. Jones and Family," she cut off and read it silently. 

_It has come to my attention you know exactly how to deal with these types of situations, _the letter read, _bombings, attacks, drug dealings, you've lead everything that we could think of as a downfall to this democracy! _

She growled at the man, or woman's, work and removed her glasses, it was all becoming more clear every second the cloudy red haze saturated. _Nevertheless, we are in desperate need of your services. _Her face softened and the light shone through. _You'll live in the White House with the President and First Lady as the recovery project goes on. Please reply as soon as possible on your decision. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, President Adam Donovan. _

She stared, wide-eyed at the black, bold words that literally popped off the page. She leaned back into her chair, shaking her head.

"Antigone?" her father asked, concern laced in his voice, "Are you alright…?"

"They want us to work with them," she said with no feeling, then the anger began to boil inside her and the words became more sarcastic. "The President of the United States wants _us_ to work with _them_, like it's no big deal that we are counted for over a hundred counts of treason, drug possession, prostitution, and we have connections in twenty countries, and Puerto Rico!" she slapped the paper down onto the table, causing most of her family to jump in surprise, "This is all a way to-," she collected her thoughts and her eyes burned with realization, "To get us into a false sense of security!"

Brendan raised a finger, trying to calm his daughter. "Anti-"

"No!" she cut him off, "You all don't get it! They want us to work with them and then when this is all over, and we stop the attacks and God only knows what else, they'll haul our asses off to prison for our past actions!" she pointed her index finger at her father accusingly, in a façade calming voice, "We haven't been found out in the slightest my ass." she stood from her seat and hastily walked to her room, trying to fight the urge to go back in and beat her father to a pulp.

Antigone curled up in her beanbag chair with her red throw blanket around her shoulders, "Stupid family business," she sighed and shook her head. "Stupid government more like." she leaned over and picked up the navy blue laptop on her nightstand, "United States Government…" she typed.

And so her investigation began… but even after Googling, hacking into her father's files, and reading in the dark until her eyes strained, Antigone could not find anything of important value.

She yawned and watched the rain scatter across the windowpanes of her balcony door. A few minutes later, she pressed her head against the cold full-length window to catch a few glimpses of the lightning that cracked the sky, and then she drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

The thunder crashing right above her bedroom was what woke Antigone up with a start.

She sat bolt upright, her breathing trying not to accelerate from the surprise, "Shit… that was loud!" she looked at her clock and squinted to read the time, "One thirty." she raised an eyebrow, "When did I fall asleep?"

Then the conversation at the dinner table and her rapid search for any information on the United States government refreshed her memory. It was only about ten o'clock when she drifted off.

She turned around to face the window, the rain was pounding down harder than before and the lightning was brighter and closer to her than expected. However, in the short second the lightning illuminated the ground, something caught her eye, "A trick of the lighting?" she whispered, trying to get a closer look of the mysterious thing, "Or have I finally cracked?"

She waited again for the lightning to strike, and after another flash; the mysterious item was still there, her voice uncertain, "OK, I haven't cracked. I'm actually seeing this." she stood up and opened the door, forgetting the fact that the wind was blowing in a monsoon's worth of rain into her bedroom.

_I'm gonna have to explain why the walls, my laptop, and I are wet in the morning, _she sighed, but still dared to walk out onto her balcony.

She kneeled down and picked it up. She ran her fingers over the rugged material, "Definitely a book. A thin, black book…" she looked up at the sky, "But where did it come from?" she shielded her face from the pouring rain and trudged back into her bedroom and closed the door with a soft 'click!'.

She sat in her chair again and flipped on the lamp, "Alright, let's see what you're all about, you little troublemaker." she flipped through the book, her brows furrowing, "There's nothing in here, just paper…" she sighed and threw it back onto her bed, face up. And with that, she changed into another pair of black pajamas, curled back up in the chair, and fell asleep, not once looking back at her bed.

What she didn't know was, the book _was_ a troublemaker. For she had read the book backwards. In addition, never saw the title.

In shiny lettering, from the rain dripping down the book, the words wrote out _Death Note._

Antigone's dreams turned into nightmares as quickly as she could blink.

_She was running through a place she had never seen, it was grey and gloomy looking. She enjoyed her rainy days, but she was never _this _much of a masochistic person. _

"_Will you be as selfless as your namesake?" the black, shrouded figure spoke, touching her face with his long, tan fingers. She cowered back in fright, "Or will you be a good little girl and put on a show for me?"_

"_Kira…" she whimpered, her body going into a fetal position. _

_The man stopped in shock, but then someone else came in. A bright, tall figure. _

_It was obviously another man who stopped Kira. Before she could register all of what had happened, he whispered something that she couldn't understand and reached out for her hand._

_It began to get brighter and brighter as she reached for him, until all she saw was white._

_Then she heard his voice, "49.9 percent chance because Kira's in the room."_

She woke to her alarm clock blaring the peacefully eerie chorus of _Over and Over. _

She hummed along sleepily as she hit the pause button, but then collapsed onto the bed, "Five more minutes, God damnit."

"Sorry," a deep voice chuckled, "I'm a Shinigami, not Father Time."

She looked up and then screamed. Loud, "HOLY SHIT-!"

"Sh!" the mysterious figure pressed his fingers to his lips, "Unless you want to be thought of as a madman by your family, be quiet."

"Who, no _what_, are you?!" she whispered frantically, finally taking in the man, at least what she thought was a man's, appearance.

Dark red, coif hair, tan skin, well built, at least taller than her by a foot. What really took her aback were his eyes, "My eyes…" she blinked in realization, "You have my eyes…"

"_You_ have _my _eyes." he clarified, "And you also have my Death Note."

"Death Note?" she barked out a laugh, "Hah! Like I really-" she looked over at her bed, the notebook was still there. And it still read Death Note. She frowned, "That explains a lot of things."

"I'd like it back, if you don't mind." he continued, "My mentor dropped it by accident-"

"Aren't Shinigamis supposed to be cunning?" she raised an eyebrow, "You're pretty blunt if you ask me."

"It's not like I _wanted _some incompetent human to get their hands on it!" he rolled his eyes, "Unfortunately, being you touched it, it's yours now."

"Well I don't want it!" she said frantically, "The last thing I need is this, this weapon of mass destruction!" she tossed the notebook onto the floor next to a man wearing jeans and a white tee shirt.

_Wait, what? _Antigone raised an eyebrow, looking up from the mysterious man's feet to his face. He was handsome, she'd admit that, but the clothes looked lanky against his thin frame. Not to mention he was hunched over. His charcoal eyes popped out against his snow-white skin. They added flames to her fiery auburn orbs.

The girl's eyes brightened with curiosity, "Another one?"

"Huh?" the Shinigami raised an eyebrow, "I don't see anything."

"You don't-"

"He _can't _see me." the man spoke with a mischievous grin, "Pleased to meet you, I'm L."

"L?" she mouthed, "Who names their kid L?"

"The Whammy House named me thank you very much." he said with a tone of arrogance.

"Whammy House?" she still mouthed in hopes the Shinigami wouldn't catch her, her mind scrambling around for answers.

"Antigone?" the other spirit wondered, a suspicious look across his face, "Are you alright?" his voice was laced with concern, an obvious trick to trust her.

_If it acts as if I care for her, I can get her into a more compromising position. I can just manipulate her until I finally get her to give me the Death Note! _Snafu concluded gleefully, _Then I can kill her and continue with perfecting the world! _

"Leave for a second, would you please?" she hissed, breaking his concentration, "Go into the kitchen and fix yourself something to eat. I don't care, just leave."

"And why should I leave you?" he crossed his arms; an ignorant expression replaced his suspicion.

"Because I need to get ready for class?" she stated, more like questioned, the sudden excuse. "And I'd like some privacy while I'm getting myself together?"

"Ah," he nodded in agreement, "I have no intention of seeing _that_." but then asked, "You have any coffee?"

"Loads." she said, dumbstruck, "In the kitchen cabinet-"

"Thirty minutes!" he shouted back to her as he ran downstairs.

Antigone locked the door and sighed, "Alright, L, care to tell me why you're here?" she looked at the man.

"I'm your Guardian Angel." he stated simply, "In short: I'm here to protect you from _that_." he pointed a spidery finger towards her bed.

"The Death Note?"

"Exactly," he nodded, "I won't, _can't, _watch more people die at the hands of that unnatural weapon of mass destruction." his voice was determined and his hands balled into fists.

"Before we get into the Death Note…" Antigone mumbled, sitting down on her bed, "Care to tell me a little more about yourself?"

"Well, what do you want to know?" L sat next to her in his unique position.

"First of all," she raised an eyebrow, "why are you sitting like that?"

"If I don't I'll lose forty percent of my intellect." he said matter-of-factly, a childish smile forming on his face, "Is that all you wanted to ask?"

"Um, no." she said, fazed by his bluntness, "What's your name?"

"I told you." his nose wrinkled in irritancy, "It's L."

"No one names their kid L." she countered, "No matter how much they don't love them. It must stand for something, right?" she looked him and smiled a little.

"Guess some more and maybe I'll tell you." he shrugged, _She'll never figure it out._

"Leonard, Leonardo…" she thought, she tapped her chin in total thought, "Light-?"

"_Not _Light." he growled, gripping her sheets in anger, "Anything but Light." he looked at her murderously, "Say or even _think _the name Light and I might attack you in a blind rage."

"Sorry, L." she looked away from him with frightened eyes, her voice quivering with a fear he hadn't seen in her in the short time they'd known each other.

_Great, _he thought bitterly, _I've completely scared her off. This isn't working out… Think-! _

"Lawliet," he mumbled. He looked at her with an apologetic smile, "It's Lawliet."

"Lawliet?" she looked at him with certain awe.

"Yes." he nodded curtly, "Now, enough about me. What about you? What's your name?"

"It's Antigone." she smiled shyly.

"Antigone…" he said slowly, "That's a name I haven't heard since we studied theatrical history." he looked up at her, "The girl who killed herself to give her brother a proper burial?"

She nodded, "I'm a naturally selfless person."

L smiled a little, "I think we'll get along well."

"Me too, Lawliet." she nodded in , "Me too…"

His smile widened at his name being spoken, "We should get onto business." but his smile became a grim expression.

"You're right." she sighed in defeat. She wanted to find out more about the mysterious man, but this was far more important.

"Antigone, you must remember this. There is _nothing, absolutely nothing,_ holy about the Death Note. You will go to neither Heaven nor Hell. You cannot, at all costs, become a pawn to this vermin's game. If you do, there's a ten percent chance you'll get out of it with a chance at the afterlife after this."

Her eyes widened, "Ten percent, that's all?" she looked at him with a frantic expression, "But L-"

"No buts!" he shook his head with a small smile, "Just trust yourself. I'll be with you every step of the way; I promise."

"I'll see if you can keep that promise." she concluded, staring down at her feet, "But can I ask one more question?" she looked up at him.

"Yes."

"How do you know so much about the Death Note?"

"That is for me to know and you to never find out." he stated, took a deep breath and laid on the bed with his eyes closed.

"Are you tired, Lawliet?" she looked over him with a concerned expression.

"You need to get ready for school, right?" he said, his eyes still closed, "I'm trying to give you some privacy."

"Oh!" she blushed involuntarily, "Yeah…"

And so, Antigone quickly threw her red high tops onto the floor, her red tank top over her body, after shedding herself of all her clothing except for her bra and panties, pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, and a black jacket that read "MCR" on the lower back, "How do I look?"

He opened an eye and sat up, "Presentable." he nodded, "Can I tell you something first, about my condition?"

"Sure."

"I can't touch you." he stated bluntly, "Only you can touch me. I will not, nor cannot, bring you any physical harm."

"Alright then." she understood and grabbed her messenger bag, "L, you can't talk to me until I get the Shinigami out of ear shot. So don't ask me anything."

"I can do that." L nodded curtly, "Where do you go to school again?"

"It's on the other side of town." she shrugged, opening the door and peeking her head out, "I think everyone except us is out on their posts, so we're good for now." she walked down the stairs and smiled back at him, "You don't mind being stuck watching a high school student, do you?"

"I never went to public school, so this will be an experience for me." he smiled childishly.

"Oh," she nodded in understanding and shouted into the kitchen, "Snafu?! You coming?!"

A reluctant sigh made L and Antigone laugh, "Yes, give me a second!"

"How do you get to school?" L whispered.

"A car?" she whispered in return, setting out to the ten-car garage house.

"Really? What type?" Snafu glided over to Antigone, "Which one is yours?"

"We use what we see fit." she answered to both of them, looking over the cars she had to choose from, "I love the Mustang, but I think the Corvette is best for today." she grabbed the keys from her hook and climbed in, "C'mon, we're gonna be late."

L decided on sitting in the back, Snafu took shotgun.

"Hang on tight!" she laughed as she gunned the engine and drove well over the speed limit to Kanarcey High School.


	4. Arguing with Myself

_Arguing with Myself_

They had been driving smoothly for the first five minutes, until traffic trying to get into Manhattan made them come to an abrupt stop.

The driver, Antigone, was thinking about her SAT score as she stared out the window. She was trying extremely hard to block out the blaring car horns of older, and less attractive, cars. The men that screamed in seven different languages had become a hum in the background. But _this_ was the kicker, she was stuck listening to both L's _and _Snafu's backseat driving.

"Antigone!" L hissed into her ear, causing Antigone to jerk up in surprise. "Keep your eyes on the road!"

_Keep your thoughts to yourself, _she hissed in return, even though he couldn't hear her.

"Mind if we listen to something?" Snafu groaned, he was lulled back over the headrest.

L snickered, "Spoiled brat as always."

Antigone stifled her chuckles and clicked over to the radio, "You're gonna have to listen to alternative, sorry Snafu."

"O' Rock 105.9," the announcer shouted. "We've got a request from Eli on line one! Here you go: American Idiot!

L's snickering become a low chuckle at the song.

_Don't wanna be an American Idiot,_

Antigone raised an eyebrow at the former detective from the rearview mirror.

_Don't wanna nation controlled by the media.  
And can you hear the sounds of hysteria? _

Antigone tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in time with the riffs.

"_The subliminal mind FUCK America!" _she sang along. Yup, she was a head banger,

_Welcome to a new kind of tension  
__All across the idiot nation  
__Everything isn't meant to be OK~__  
Television dreams of tomorrow  
__We are not the ones who're meant to follow~  
For that's enough to argue._

The girl looked over at the two "men," Snafu was fuming and L was laughing uncontrollably.

He stopped almost instantly, _I'm… laughing? _Neither Ryuuzaki nor L truly laughed, and obviously, Lawliet never laughed because Lawliet was never caught off guard.

Antigone blushed as his deep, gorgeous laugh rang through her ears. She adverted her eyes from him and focused intensively on the road. "Why do the hot guys always have to be unattainable?!"

L cleared his throat and leaned against the window, hoping to a catch a second's worth of rest. _I can't wait to see how he takes this._ A smug smile flashed across L's face.

"Eh?" Snafu raised an eyebrow, his smile broadened, "Who are you talking about?"

She smirked, "This really cute guy in my English class," she pressed her foot gingerly on the gas pedal. "Black hair, with eyes to match. His stark-white skin makes him even more handsome." she sighed, "He has a lithe physique, too."

L's onyx eyes snapped open, his mouth agape. _Is she talking about _me_?! That's not possible._

L had learned more than he expected while he was in America, on one of his first cases. The task: Become more social and catch a drug dealer that had been dealing to college students on campus. He immediately befriended the enemy and locked him up for life after finding five pounds of weed and three grams of ecstasy a few weeks later. Blaine Hartwig, if he remembered correctly, was sentenced to thirty years in prison. The man was probably dead by now, if not killed by Kira.

Obviously a social L never became a reality, but it helped when he was forced to go outside using an alias. Believe or not, he had taken an acting course at Whammy's from the age of five until he left at seventeen to become who he was fifty-five years ago.

Snafu's auburn eyes darkened and his mouth was set in a straight line, the anger was bubbling in his chest. _Sounds like a sad excuse of a crush, he sounds like-_

She smirked and leaned against the steering wheel, a dreamy smile appeared, "Oh La-"

L's thumb was pressed intently on his lips, he was extremely into the conversation now. _Ninety-five._

"Shut _up, _Antigone!" the Shinigami was livid now, his voice was filled with malice and something else.

_Jealousy, perhaps? _Antigone tried to feign innocence as she inwardly jumped around with complete hysteria.

"I was saying Laurence, Snafu." she rolled her eyes, "Did you think I was talking about _you_?" she snorted, "You're self-centered!"

He huffed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Well can you blame me for thinking-?"

"Yes." she quipped as she squeezed the car into the right hand lane, "You are a very arrogant person, you're too smart for your own good, and you're not that handsome." she looked at him with an expression that was anything but sincere, "Sorry to break it to you sweetheart, but I'm not a sucker for auburns."

Snafu sat there, completely dumbstruck. _What does she know about arrogance?! I'm perfect! The perfect son, the straight-A student! The God of a perfect world!_

L wasn't in his unique sitting position in back of the car anymore. He was rolling on the floor, feet up, in hysterics.

No one had ever talked to Snafu that way, except for a certain black haired, sweet-obsessed detective that knew everything about him from the moment they met. It was good to know that someone besides him could deflate Light's excessively large head.

"Shut up, Antigone." Snafu growled, his deadly Shinigami eyes staring down the Death Note, _I wish she'd just give up the damn thing already! I want to kill her more than I wanted to kill L! _

"Make me," she snarled in return and faced him dead-on. "You sound like a kid, you know that? A stupid, immature, bratty as hell ki-!"

"Excuse me Miss!" a man in the middle lane shouted from inside his silver Volvo, "If you've had enough ranting…"

She suddenly realized it was Mr. Edward Cullen*, a man that had invested with them a few years back and still kept in touch with the Joneses. Fiery red hair, green eyes, and a strong pale body were his trademark features. He also had a wife who was pregnant with their first child.

"Bluetooth, Mr. C." Antigone tapped her ear, "I'm talking to a, um, _client _of mine."

He blinked, and finally recognized her, "Antigone!" his crooked smile made an appearance, "Sorry, my dear, the car threw me off. Don't you take the Mustang on school days?"

"I like to change it up," she smiled. "How's the family?"

"Bella is glowing." he gushed, "Emmett and Alice are setting up the baby's room, Rosalie is being… well Rosalie. Jasper is helping Bella with her parental classes and Esme and Carlisle miss you and your family." he laughed as they inched closer to their exits, "We should get together sometime."

"That'd be great!" she nodded. She truly enjoyed time with the Cullen family; they were a second family to her.

"Well then it's settled!" he smiled, "Give your family my regards, yes?"

"As with mine to yours," she nodded, a heartfelt smile crossing her face. "Goodbye Mr. C!"

"Goodbye Antigone!" he nodded, rolled up his window, and began to talk animatedly on his Blackberry.

L and Snafu were both left in shock, L was the first to speak, "I think I speak for both of us when I ask: Who was that?!"

"_That _was Edward Cullen, a family friend of ours and a business partner we do constant deals with." she stated as they finally drove into the tiny neighborhood of Kanarcey, "We love them to death, Emmett was Mom's bodyguard for a short time, and Alice and Rosalie like to model me in their clothes."

"Is it that obvious I'm shocked how well you get along with your elders?" Snafu mumbled, his head pounded against the window.

"Quit that!" she snapped as she hung a left, "You're gonna scratch it and it's _very _had for us to get custom-made windows!"

"Well excuse me," he sneered, all boredom gone and a tone of arrogance thicker than tar, "I didn't know it was that _hard _for the Mafia to get custom-made glass to shape something as tacky as a Corvette!" he chuckled, "Why don't you just steal it? _Like everything else?"_

"Shut up!" she shouted. _The Corvette is a classic!_ Her foot was leaning further onto the gas pedal, "Or I'll-"

"You can't do anything." his sneer was still in place, "You are nothing but-" he droned on and on. Antigone was too focused on Snafu's first sentence. _You can't do anything._

L whispered softly, "Antigone-chan?" he waved a hand in front of her face, "Is Antigone-chan alright?"

She was fuming. Her knuckles had turned white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly, and her eyes had narrowed to slits.

No one, _no one, _talked to Antigone Marie Jones in that tone, it was unjust! It was as if you were knocking on death's door!

The arrogant appearance on Snafu's face was replaced with a look of annoyance, "-do you get it yet? You're a-"

She slammed on the brakes, not only because the light had unexpectedly turned red, but her anger had gotten the best of her, "Don't you _dare _talk to me that way, you piece of shit." she spoke through gritted teeth.

L and Snafu went flying out of their seats, Light into the windshield and L into the seat's console. _Antigone-chan is a very interesting person. Note to self: Be _very _careful with what you say._

It was now obvious to both men that Antigone didn't take B.S. from anyone. Unfortunately, for Snafu, he just happened to be the guinea pig. Not that L minded, but either way people would think Antigone had gone insane.

"A-?" the words were caught in the Shinigami's throat, and he concluded it was a good thing they were. _Does it run in the family? Or it just because she's been raised in the protection and teachings of the Mafia?_

"You better hold your tongue." she hissed as they passed through the gates to Kanarcey High School, "Or I _will _make sure I'm a completely selfish bitch to you, Snafu."

After parking relatively close to Homeroom, Antigone stepped out and inhaled deeply. "I can't believe I'm saying this but… I'm glad to-"

"Miss Jones!" an unhealthily pale and thin woman, with ratty caramel-colored hair and an ancient black dress suit, scurried over to Antigone, her scuffed black heels clicked against the cracked asphalt hurriedly.

Her face fell and she raised a finger, "I spoke too soon." she grabbed her messenger bag out of the back seat and slung it over her shoulder, "What do you want, Ms. B?!" she sighed.

L and Snafu had situated themselves outside by the time Antigone's face went from content to exasperated.

L was sitting on the ground, trying to calculate what the chances were that the woman coming up to Antigone was about to bring her bad news, _29.6 percent._

Snafu leaned against the hood of the car, trying to figure out a way to discreetly slash the Corvette's tires. _My talons would work, but she'd know it was me! Maybe a stake? No, too big. Maybe I-_

L rolled his eyes at the scheming Shinigami and stood, "Well, it's not like you can hear me, but I'm off to see what's gotten Antigone-chan into such a pickle, Kira-kun." and with that, L walked into the crowded hallways of Kanarcey high.

It was all so… grey and bland. There were cracks in the walls, the lockers were rusty. L smiled a little, "Maybe private tutoring wasn't as bad as I thought it was." he continued to walk the halls.

Students were passing by him, slapping hands and hugging, the occasional kiss caught L's eye. They leaned on their lockers and held something or other in their hands. A cell phone, a PSP, an iPod, no student seemed to not be entertained.

He finally saw Antigone and the strange looking teacher by what seemed to be Antigone's locker.

"You ditched Study Hall!" Ms. B shouted to Antigone as they stood in front of her locker, "You know that actually counts as a class, right?!"

"I'm passing aren't I? Not to mention I'm on the honor role." she said sharply as she grabbed her history textbook. "That's all that matters to me."

_Ah, honor role. Just like Kira-kun was in high school. Straight As and the perfect child. But Antigone-chan is far from perfect at the moment, _L concluded, _She's had a rough night, and the day doesn't seem to be making up for it. Maybe she should've faked sick, that thunderstorm last night could've given her a cold in no time. _L sighed and chewed on his thumb, _This is getting ridiculous. I am not her older brother, and I'm most certainly not her father. Yet I feel extremely protective of her. _His cuticle was numb by now,_ Is this because my instincts are kicking in? Like whenever I took on a case? _he was bleeding, _It's settled: Antigone-chan is nothing more than an assignment. I will treat her as such, no interactions unless it's completely necessary. _

"Miss Jones-" the teacher pressed.

"This discussion is over." she concluded, slammed the door shut, and walked off to History class.

"Well then." a smug smile appeared on L's face, completely breaking his inner arguments, "Let's see if your book smarts are as good as you say they are, Antigone-chan."


	5. The Answer is Touch

"_The Answer is Touch."_

Kanarcey High School, one of the most rundown schools in the borough of Brooklyn. Why Antigone wanted to go to this school instead of taking the path of her brother and cousins, learning by family teachings and Catholic school, no one truly knew. Antigone loved her family, she really did, but being stuck around a crazy Italian family twenty-four seven wasn't her cup of tea. So she enrolled into the schools that were on the other side of town. Kanarcey High was filled with gangs and drugs, Antigone knew after hearing all the rumors and complaints from parents and the school board, she _knew _this would make her education more lively.

Antigone had gotten past History class with an easy A, and only because she actually showed respect toward her teacher!

Language Arts was also simple enough, she had a way with words ever since she could talk at the age of nine months.

She did not like Math, not because it was too hard, but too easy. Every question she was asked had been asked at a business meeting at least two years prior. She was too smart for her own good. _(A/N: Like a few other people we know.)_

L was extremely impressed with her grades, even if the school she selected was a F-rated by the school board. On the other hand, he wasn't too pleased with one period Antigone obviously thought of as her favorite: Lunch.

She sat the New Yoricans' table, they were a gang made up of ten Puerto Rican and Mexican boys. They're parents were also partners within the Underground System, or US for short, which was what the Mafia was apart of and founded.

"Nah," Scorchio, her closet friend at the table, shook his head, "An, that's ridiculous!"

"Swear of Pops' grave, the guys all dropped dead on the floor." she made the sign of the cross and pressed her fingers to her lips, "We didn't shoot 'em or anything! He dumped them out the window and into the Hudson." she grabbed a French fry from his lunch tray and popped it into her mouth, "Suck it, Scorchio."

He laughed, "Hey," he leaned in and whispered, "The NY Hicks are gonna have a brawl out with us at the station on Saturday, what d'ya say? I'm gonna need my reason not to be killed, and you dealing with them would definitely make sure they don't cross our territory again."

"I say no, I've got business to take care of." she shook her head and looked over at L, whose face graced a look of disdain, "Paulie ain't feelin' too well, and Daddy's off for Sicily tomorrow with Momma and everyone else. Someone has to look after mansion. And Paulie." she shuddered.

This wasn't a total lie, her parents and the rest of her family were off to Sicily to see how their extended family was handling themselves. Her Uncle Venn and Aunt Jena had decided to take up being the second in command there.

"Ah," he sighed and shrugged, "maybe next time then, An." a pearly white smile donned his face, "If I die, I'm holding you accountable for my murder."

"Then you better win, or I'll take up my dad's offer to live in Sicily with my Uncle Venn." she laughed. The lunch bell went off, time for the last two classes of the day, "I'll see you later, Scorch." she shouted over her shoulder.

"Later!" he gave her a peace sign and walked in the opposite direction, towards the ISS (In School Suspension) center.

She looked over at L and raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?" they stopped by her locker so she could attach her Bluetooth headset. (the only way to talk to L without getting suspicious looks)

"You talk to _criminals!_" he reminded her, then his voice was thick with sarcasm, "Or is it no big deal, being you work and practically live with criminals?!"

"Shut up, don't bring my family into this, _Lawliet._" she hissed, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Don't get too close to me," he said cryptically. "Get your books and materials, we only have three minutes and thirty-four seconds to get to the other side of the building."

"Yeah, yeah." she rolled her eyes, grabbed her science textbook, and slammed the door shut. She unhooked the headset and placed it back in her pocket. It was a way of saying, _Conversation over. _

As they walked through the halls, a few guys stopped to talk to her, (fights, drugs, the latest weaponry) causing L's frown to turn into a complete scowl. _This is absolutely vile! _

A girl with curly brown hair and hazel eyes came up to her and smiled, "Antigone!"

"Hey Katie!" she hugged her friend, "What's up?"

"Nothing much," she shrugged, "dance is taking a toll on my feet." she pointed at the bandage on her ankle, "Pointe dancing."

"Ow." she replied, "I've got to get going, nice talking to you!" she shouted as they went their separate ways.

"Later!" Katie waved and walked in the opposite direction.

"What, no talk of M16s or cocaine?" L chuckled.

"Shut up, I have friends outside of organized crime." she mumbled, staring down at her feet.

The Science classroom, the one thing every person in her family hated, was in front of her like a bad omen. She shuddered and reluctantly walked to her desk.

Why did the Joneses hate science? Science made everything seem so complex, and everything their family believed in false and a complete lie. God, heaven, life after death.

Antigone smirked as she looked into her book bag out of the corner of her eye, at her Death Note, _Let's see "science"_ _try to figure this one out, eh? _she averted her gaze and looked over at L, who was currently sitting in an absent student's desk at the front of the classroom.

"I told Kira-kun that the Death Note was beyond science, how ironic." L mumbled as he sat.

Antigone looked over at him and whispered, "Kira-kun?"

"Sh!" he pressed his thumb to his lips, "You're teacher is in the room."

The teacher walked in and leaned on her desk, obviously not in need of sitting down, "Alright class, today we will be learning about static electricity and how you can actually get power from it." she said, "Follow me into the lab, please."

"This is _elementary!" _L whined, his lips formed in a pout.

Antigone's face turned the softest shade of pink, _He's cute when he's depressed. _She gave him a warning look and nudged her head forward.

After getting situated into their seats, and Antigone hissing at L to stop moping, Ms. Rue held out a blue balloon and rubbed it against her cropped corn-yellow hair, "See how a few strands of hair rise up? That's static electricity. What's another way of creating static electricity?"

Antigone raised her hand reluctantly, for all the other students were lost.

L was on the stool next to her and sighed as chewed on his thumb, "Again, happy I took up private tutoring."

"I, uh, don't, eh, get it!" a thin Puerto Rican boy shouted from the back. That was Rene.

"Dis is bullshit!" a bulky black boy by the name of Darrell shouted next to him.

"Ah, shut up." a Greek girl named Eva waved her hand dismissively as she filed her nails and smacked her gum.

"Antigone?" her teacher said, gratefully.

She rolled her eyes and began to explain with her hands. "If you rub your feet on a carpeted surface the-" her fingers accidentally grazed L's shoulder. A jolt of electricity rushed her.

Antigone blinked and rubbed her eyes. She looked down at her hands, they were more… _manly. _She grabbed at the shirt she was wearing, it was a long-sleeved, baggy, white shirt! She stared down, she wasn't wearing any shoes! It was beginning to come together, but just to make sure, she took a lock of hair between her fingers. Raven-black, just as she suspected. "What did you _do, _L?!"

L snickered as he looked at Antigone in his body from the corner of her eye. His eyes held a more youthful brightness, he could only expect her eyes were duller. _I told you not to get too close, Antigone-chan. _

"Then what, Miss Jones?" Ms. Rue pressed.

"Sorry," L smirked to himself, "got a little distracted. If you rub your feet against a carpeted area for quite some time, and then _touch _someone, you'll create static electricity." he looked back at Antigone, who was fuming. _I look cute when I'm angry, _he concluded with an elusive smile.

"And why is that?" she smiled, obviously getting excited by her answers.

L shrugged, at both Antigone and Ms. Rue, "It creates a current. If we break the current, like if we let go, it'll end."

"Excellent!" Ms. Rue clapped her hands together, "Now…"

"May I use the bathroom, Ms. Rue?" L raised her hand politely.

"Yes of course." she nodded.

L hopped down from the chair and walked to the door, slouched over as he usually would be. This was odd being he was stuck in Antigone's body. The students and Ms. Rue watched in shock as he practically limped his way into the girl's bathroom.

As he walked into the beat up bathroom he stared at his temporary reflection, "This is so odd." the more he stared at her, he noticed the tiniest pieces of uniqueness in her features. The small beauty mark above her left eye, her naturally rosy cheeks, her plump pink lips. He turned to the side and noticed she had almost no body fat, and that she was well toned, _Excessive training in case of an accident?_

"L?!" Antigone walked into the bathroom, completely livid. She stood at L's full height of 6'3 and his voice became a few octaves higher than usual, "You couldn't have told me this before?!" she gestured to their reflections, "At least I would've known-" she cut off mid-sentence and growled, "Quit eye-fucking me, damnit!" L had been staring at her body the whole five seconds she was trying to rant.

"I'm not "eye-fucking you," Antigone-chan," L rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm evaluating your appearance, that's all." he licked her lips and smiled with satisfaction, "Mm… I did not know Antigone-chan uses strawberry gloss for her chapped lips."

"Argh, I give up!" she flung his hands into the air, her livid expression back, "At least tell me how to switch us back!"

An eerily pleasant smile formed over Antigone's face, almost like the Cheshire Car, "Antigone-chan will just have to retrace her steps and try to find the magic words."

"Huh?! You expect me to figure out some stupid password so I can get back into my own body?!" she shrieked, it sounded extremely odd to be screaming to L using L's voice, "I swear on Mello's grave, Lawliet, I'll-!"

"Mello?" L cut the ranting off, her eyes were wide with interest, "You know about Mello?" he asked softly, he hadn't heard about Mello since he had tried to make his decision about who would success him, hearing about Mello from Antigone would make this a definitely interesting turn of events. _There's an eighty-five percent chance it isn't him, don't get your hopes up._

Antigone crossed his arms, "Mello took over the Mafia when my dad was still a kid, just turned eleven years old. Dad was known as Brennan Levi Gordon by most people at the time. My grandfather, Dwhite Howard Gordon, followed Mello's orders to see if he could possibly success him after he died. Unfortunately, Grandfather died at the hands of Kira because his name got out. Mello looked after my dad for about six months until he and his ally, Matt, were killed. Dad has been in charge ever since."

"Did Mello ever tell your father anything?"

"Why do you care? Mello had no family, so don't even try to pull that stunt on me." she quipped, "Dad never talks about him because there's nothing to say. I never show any interest in the story, so why bother bringing up bad memories?"

"Could at least tell me how they died?" L sighed in defeat, there was no way he could get an answer out of Antigone about Mello's and Matt's personal intentions to being apart of the Mafia, but she would probably know how they died. He slumped over the brick wall and tried to make himself comfortable.

"Matt was pulled over by this woman's bodyguards, I think her name was Takada? and they all opened fire on him because he was an accomplice to Mello. They held Takada for ransom to try and have the Kira Task Force in Japan take the bait, being holding Sayu Yagami captive didn't help much." she mumbled and ran a hand through L's unruly hair.

"Sayu Yagami?" _Kira-kun's little sister? _L was worried now, what were Mello's true intentions with the double ransoms? How much did Mello and Matt know about Kira? "What were they holding her for?"

"It was a file or something along the lines of that, it must've been important if they kidnapped the chief's daughter." she shrugged, "We must have it on record in Dad's office, you could look over it sometime while he's away in Sicily."

"And Mello?"

"Mello was at the hands of Kira, just like Grandfather, because his name got out into the open. But apparently Takada killed him herself because he kidnapped her."

"I'm slightly confused, but I might have the answer already," L raised a hand quickly. "Your last name is Jones, yet you say your father's father was named Dwhite Gordon. So Brennan Levi Gordon became Brendan Lee Jones?"

"To cover up his tracks, yes." she nodded, a smile crossing L's face, "Pretty clever Lawliet."

He smiled sadly, "Come on, _I've _got a class to finish." he got up from his spot and looked at Antigone with a coaxing expression.

"We'll just grab your- I mean mine-" she grunted in frustration. "_Our _book bag and make a run for it from there." she stood and began to walk out, he trailed right behind her, "L?" she looked back at him with a thoughtful expression

"Hm?" he raised an eyebrow.

"_Please_ try to stand up straight," she begged, "it doesn't look right being I have tall posture most of the time."

"That might not be possible," he bit his other thumb. "I've been in this position for so long, it's like trying to unbend a piece of copper after its shape has been held a long period of time: It can be done, but it takes more pushing because it has rusted, and refuses to change its ways."

"I could break it, melt it down, and give it a new form." she shrugged.

"Keep in mind I'm a spirit, not a profitable piece of metal, Antigone-chan." he said in monotone.

"By the way." she smirked as she kneeled next to him and whispered, "This _electric touch _of yours is the answer." she pressed his finger tips against her own and in another flash and dizzying spell, Antigone was looking back at L. The way it should be.

L blinked for a moment, completely fazed by what just happened, _She figured it out so quickly? _"I thought you said you didn't know, Antigone-chan?"

She smirked victoriously, "I wanted to see if you would take pity on me if I played the sad and distraught card. Just as I thought, you didn't take pity on me," she shook her head and mumbled, "You truly are a lunatic."

"How did you come up with that answer?"

"You show no feelings to be honest, all I see is anger and arrogance." she shrugged, "It's like everything's a game to you!" she pointed an accusing finger at L, _Well this is déjà vu, _"Life's a game you cannot win, L."

"This is true in most ways. You die and you lose the game. There's no reset button, there's no way to start a new game once your game has started." he mused, "You have an interesting outlook on things, Antigone-chan."

"Well I'm an interesting person," she shrugged. Antigone thought of her life as a game all too well, a game called _The Godfather _or _Scarface. _

She could make an offer the man could not refuse, but in a spilt second she could take out an MG Machine gun and shout "_Say hello to my little friend!" _and shoot up the client. That was obviously not how the Mafia usually did business, but it was done on various occasions for everyone's protection.

"Hey, where's Snafu?" she looked around, "I'm surprised I haven't seen him."

"Right here!" he called as he waved his hand dismissively, "Went out to get something to drink."

"So I see." she mumbled, "Can you get me my book bag and meet me back at the car?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "I need to explain to you the rules on the way home, alright?"

"Sure, I guess." her face fell in confusion. She didn't plan on using it, so why would he bother running his mouth about it?

"Alright, see you at the car." he began to walk in the opposite direction, waving a hand back at her in a half-assed attempt to say goodbye.

"Snafu-sama is extremely bored by you, Antigone-chan." L mused, "I can tell by his expressions."

"Just because I don't use the stupid note book? Or is it because I'm just plain ordinary?" she crossed her arms, irritation evidently thick in her voice, "What makes him think he's superior, L? It's like he was born with a silver spoon stuck up his ass."

_Antigone-chan is far from ordinary. She's smart, she's pure hearted, she has a sense of justice. _L sighed to himself.

He bit his thumb to silence himself, "Snafu-sama definitely thinks little of you, Antigone-chan. But you should not worry yourself about it, there's a thirty-five percent chance of I knowing _why _he's like this."

"And that would be because no one deflated his head? Or because he found someone that met his match and thinks he must surpass every other person he meets to tell the other person that _he's _the victor?" she scoffed.

_If she was alive when I died, maybe I would've thought about having her success me. She definitely belongs at Wammy's, there's no doubt in my mind. _

"We had better get going." she said, causing L to snap out of his deep concentration.

"Yes." he nodded and stuffed his hands into his pockets, _…Perhaps I'm not the smartest man in the world. _his tight lips loosened and a small smile appeared, _Maybe L wasn't surpassed by N, M, or BB… perhaps _L_ has been surpassed by _A_._


	6. Rules of Her Own

_Rules of Her Own_

Driving back from school was far easier than getting to school. The streets were bare and the sidewalks were packed with locals trying to get themselves into lunch, in fears of being late getting back to work. No one drove to lunch unless it was absolutely necessary, as in a business meeting, otherwise you took the subway or hailed a taxi. If you ever saw cars on the streets during said time, ninety five percent of them were probably high school students racing at top speed.

Antigone was no exception. The top was down, the styles of Maximum the Hormone were blasting through her iTrip speakers, and her usually tame hair was now a flowing black ribbon.

L smiled at the thought of driving so fast, _I never received my driver's license because Watari drove me around wherever I needed to be. It shows how truly pathetic I am._

Antigone shook her head and laughed, loud, long, and clear, "WAHOO!"

Snafu rolled his eyes and looked out the window, "This is why I wanted you to give me back the Death Note as soon as possible. I'm getting stuck basically babysitting you."

"You were off robbing a freaking Starbucks." she snapped, "Don't pull that type of crap on me." _If anything, it was _L _that has been burdened with babysitting me. _she looked back at him with a worried expression, _He's so… distant. I wish he would open up. _she blinked, _Wow, only a day with him and I'm already worried? Tch, I must be a softie._

L smiled reassuringly, "I'm fine, Antigone-chan. You just worry about getting yourself home in one piece."

She nodded slightly and made a sharp maneuver into the left turn lane, "Hey, Snafu? Being I won't even use the Death Note while I'm in possession of it, and I made it pretty clear last night, why do you bother running your mouth about it?"

"Just in case," he smirked, "if you change your mind."

"Whatever." she rolled her eyes, "Well, get on with it."

"First of all: You _must _have the person's true name and remember their face to kill them, this way people with the same name won't be affected." he pressed, "Unless you have a specific way of killing them, they will die of a heart attack by default. You should write the details of the death down at the maximum of six minutes and forty seconds afterwards. You can change the way of the death in the six minutes and forty seconds after the death. You cannot change the person's name, however."

"Okay, go on." she nodded and paused _Zetsuobou Billy._

"I'm not supposed to be with you or against you," he shrugged, "I cannot help or prevent deaths being written in the note. It's against the rules." _Write someone's name down, damn it, Antigone! She's had it for a day and a half and still _nothing! _Ugh. _"I will follow you until you give up the Death Note. Or until you die."

_Sixty-six percent chance he won't tell her of all her memories being erased after relinquishing it. _L's eyes widened slightly, _I'm the one that's supposed to prevent Antigone from writing in it, and protect her from the Shinigami. When she gives up the ownership, whether from death or finally making a deal with Kira-kun, there's a ninety-five percent chance she'll forget about me. _a dull ache was twisting in his stomach, _Perhaps I do care for her. I am apparently aching at the thought of it. Would I cry? Would I move on and forget about her? Would I even try to meet her in the void and take her back to the Realm of Angels? _

"Then I guess I'll have you plan my funeral." she noted, her voice was a muse.

"Not giving it up?" he raised an eyebrow. His eyes flickered red and looked at her remaining life span. Unlike the life spans he had read, hers changed rapidly instead of standing still. _Her future isn't set in stone… it's because she hasn't made a decision about the Death Note. _

"If I do you'd probably kill me afterwards." she bluntly stated.

"If you do relinquish it, but being how stubborn you are that'll be when you die, you'll lose all your memories of the Death Note and everything that portrayed with it."

"I will have no memories of it whatsoever?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Although, if you happen to pick up the same Death Note after you relinquish your ownership, you'll regain your memories."

"Anything else?"

"The Death Note will not affect people under 780 days old, there is no humanly possible way to kill a Shinigami, if you misspell a person's name four times by _accident, _that person shall not die. If you do it purposely, on the other hand, _you _will die." he counted off on his claws.

"Fine, still not gonna use it." she stated as they stopped at a red light. "But…"

"But?" Snafu arched an eyebrow, one with multiple scars across it.

"If I have rules to abide by," she smiled a little, almost teasing. "You have rules to go by too."

He sighed reluctantly and looked over at her, "What are they?" he groaned. _This is not going to end well, for her at least._

"You will not go into the bathroom while I am present." she gave him a stern look, "You won't be allowed in my bedroom while I am out, or when I am asleep. If you want something to eat or drink, being you like caffeine, you'll ask for my permission. And, you will _not _hurt any one in my family or any of my friends." _Or L, you will definitely not harm L, _"Hey, what time is it, Snafu?"

L answered for his former enemy, "Five after two, why?"

Antigone looked over at the clock on the dashboard, "Shit! We're late!" The light turned green and she floored it as she switched gears.

"Late for what?" Snafu looked over at her, _Must be pretty important. Probably a reunion of _My Chemical Romance_ or something._

"My family is leaving for Sicily today, I have to get home before they lock up the house!" she explained, "Dad uses different keys whenever we leave, in case we ever have someone working against us and knows that we'll be out." the tires squealed as she hung a right, the accelerator off the scale.

L watched the scenery whiz by him and felt a little nauseated doing so, "Ugh… I feel sick."

_Don't you dare, L. _she gave him a warning glare and sped right through the yellow light without even noticing. A few other gangs were shouting at her in various languages, but she paid no attention. She needed to get home and fast. She didn't have a key to the new lock.

She grabbed her iPhone and pressed in her father's number. She waited impatiently as the phone rang once, twice, three times.

"Hello?" her father picked up right before it went to voicemail. His voice was strictly business, so he must have picked up the phone in a haste.

"Dad!" she breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God I caught you."

"What's wrong, Antigone?" his voice was laced with concern.

"Are you still home?" she wondered as she made a turn onto Avenue A, _Please say yes, Daddy. _

"We're waiting on your mother and brother to finish packing. Where are you?"

"I'm just getting into Alphabet City." she responded as she scowled.

Chinatown was staring her down from their hangout outside of the leader's family owned cigar shop. The leader pressed a finger to his throat and made a slicing noise.

She smirked and turned around, "Dad, I'll talk to you later. Just don't leave until I get back alright?"

"What'd you do?" her father sighed, she could picture him rubbing his temples.

"Chinatown is making threats again," she rolled her eyes, "a slice of the throat. How original." she scoffed.

"Give 'em hell, kid." her father chuckled. Chinatown was one gang that hadn't sided with the Mafia yet, yet they considered themselves the "strongest link." Antigone's smirk was still in place as she pulled into park on the other side, outside of the jewelry shop _Weisstein and Company, _jumped over the door of her car,and walked through the barren street to get onto their territory, "I have no weapons." she raised her hands from their pockets after she stuffed the phone into her pocket.

This was a lie. Antigone's jacket held a handgun from the inner sewing on the right, and a knife in the other. But she wasn't going to have the lower hand in this match.

The leader, Cong, smirked a little at this, "Miss Jones, what an unpleasant surprise."

"Cut the crap, Cong." she snapped, "You know why I'm here."

His girlfriend, who called her herself Frenchie even though she was named Min, snapped her gum, "You're on our territory, Jones, step off."

"Technically no, sweetheart." she smirked, "Everything around your little shop is _mine, _if I killed you right here I could get away with it."

"I could care less, Cong's family has enough money to buy you out." Frenchie snapped her fingers and wore a threatening smile of her own.

"Get out of here, Antigone." Cong muttered. It was obvious he didn't want to fight the ebony haired, smart-assed girl, nor did he wish to have his girlfriend hate Antigone either, but Chinatown and the Mafia didn't mix too well.

Frenchie scowled and took out a shotgun. She pointed it at Antigone with malice, "I have had it with your constant bickering with us, even though you know we won't agree with your ideas and beliefs." she aimed it straight for her chest, "If you run now, I might not pull the trigger."

"Bring it on, _Min._" she replied as pulled the gun out of her jacket and moved swiftly, almost as if she were dancing.

Snafu and L looked at the battle with mixed expressions.

Snafu chuckled and propped his feet up on the dashboard. "Ryuuk was right, humans _are _entertaining." the evil glint in his fiery eyes made him look more lethal than he truly was.

_I'm absolutely positive that Snafu-sama is truly Light-kun. The physique, his human trademarks, minus the scars, are all the same as they were when I died in his arms. _L bit down on his thumb, causing the scar to open up and bleed again, "This is vile, she cannot die this way."

The Shinigami eyed her life span, it was still popping up random numbers. _Could it be possible she'll die this way? _he smiled to himself,_ That'd make my job far more easy._

A shrill cry, Min's trademark battle cry, rang through the streets as she raised the gun again and pressed her finger on the trigger. "It's all personal, Antigone, no business."

A shot rang out. Both Min and Antigone waited for the impact and the world to black out on them, but it never came. Someone else had made the shot.

"What. Are You. Doing, Miss Jones?!" a tall man with fuzzy black hair roared, holding an M16 in his hands.

"Ju-Long!" Antigone bowed her head respectively, "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you here?" he pressed his fingers at the bridge of his nose.

"Brother-" Cong had switched to Chinese as he explained to the older man.

Ju-Long nodded and turned to Antigone with a small smile, "I can assure you Antigone, I have taken your father's offers into great thought. But Chinatown can't be at risk of treason. If that wasn't the case, you'd be welcome here with a smile instead of the barrel of a gun."

"_Min_!" Cong mumbled as he grabbed the shotgun from his girlfriend's hands.

"I'm sorry, it was my fault." Antigone hung her head, "I walked over here and bickered with Min, my apologies." she bowed respectively.

"It's my fault too, for almost killing you." Min shrugged, "So…" she sighed and reluctantly said, "I'm sorry, Antigone."

L breathed a sigh of relief as he waited in the car, he didn't even realize he was holding it, "Puri di cuore… That's what you are, Antigone-chan." he murmured, a small smile appeared over his lips.

"Puri di cuore…" Antigone whispered, her smile widened in realization, "Puri di cuore!"

"Huh?" Cong raised an eyebrow.

"Puri di cuore means… Pure of heart." she smiled over at L, whose smile was also wide. His teeth were pearly white against neutral lips, absolutely gorgeous.

Antigone walked over to her car, hands stuffed in her pockets and gun back in her jacket pocket. Her thoughts were everywhere and nowhere all at once. _I've got a crush on a ghost. _"C'mon, we've gotta get home before Dad leaves without giving me the key." she made a U-turn and sped off to her manor.

* * *

_Name: Antigone Marie Jones_

_Date of Birth: May 25, 2039_

_Age as of Chapter: 18._

_Star Sign: Gemini - The Twins -_

_Hair Color: Ebony, if it hits the sun just right it'll look like an extremely dark purple._

_Eye Color: Auburn_

_Listens to her father's old vinyl records, specifically MCR and Bullet for My Valentine. _

_Name: Brendan Lee Jones - Formerly Brennan Levi Gordon -_

_Date of Birth: August 18, 1997._

_Age as of Chapter: 59_

_Star Sign: Leo - the Lion -_

_Hair Color: Midnight Black_

_Eye Color: Black, with flecks of silver._

_Took over the Mafia after his father was killed, along with Mello, and Matt, when he was eleven. He's been in charge ever since._

_Name: Margaret Rose Intaglio Jones_

_Date of Birth: December 24, 2007_

_Age as of Chapter: 48_

_Star Sign: Capricorn - the Goat -_

_Hair Color: A dark red._

_Eye Color: Auburn, AKA "Kira's Eyes"_

_Married to Brendan at the age of twenty three. Originally apart of his defense attorney, she was the leader of disposing the evidence against him and anyone else in the Mafia_


	7. Keeping up with Missing You

_**Antigone is in her last month of senior year. All her tests have been taken and she's passed with straight As. But, due to all the attacks on the U.S., all schools were pushed back about a month. She will be let out of school on June 30**__**th**__**…**_

_Keeping up with Missing You_

_~Two Weeks Later~_

A cloudy, Friday dusk. Three misfits, of their own worlds no less, were sitting in random positions around a white and black bedroom. The girl, that could be L's daughter they looked so alike, lounged in her beanbag chair, curled into the fetal position with her blanket. The evil, yet oddly beautiful, Shinigami leaned on the balcony door, watching the grey clouds pass by. And finally, the former detective lay on the girl's bed in his peculiar style, simply watching the girl's every move. Almost as if he wanted to memorize everything about her, maybe even trying to figure out the method to her madness.

"I'm bored." Antigone sighed and sat up. The blanket slid off her shoulders and into her lap, revealing the black boy shorts and yellow tank top she decided to wear around the house.

L's look of concentration faltered into an amused smile, "If you're so bored Antigone-chan, why you go into the game room and play Guitar Hero on your father's game console?"

She shook her head and mumbled, "Beaten them all," she was counting on her fingers for added effect.

"Your mother's Square Enix collection?"

"Haven't played it in years." she responded in the same tone of voice.

"Their movie making system?" he raised an eyebrow, reciting most of the family's electronically entertaining pieces of equipment.

"Dad took it with them to Sicily." she sighed in defeat, her voice at full volume now, "Is there anything to do in this house?!" she drummed her fingers against the material of her seat.

"You reek," Snafu bluntly stated, pinching his nose with his forefinger and thumb, if you could call them fingers. They were basically claws, being how long his nails were. "Go take a shower."

She smiled a little as she walked to the dresser on the other side of the room, "Thanks, Snafu." she grabbed an array of multi-colored bottles out of the top drawer and walked out of her room, grabbing the dark red robe off the hook on the back of the door.

"What are you doing?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Doing what you told me to do." she rolled her eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm getting myself cleaned up."

L bit down on his thumb as he remembered Antigone's rules to Snafu, _You are not allowed inside the bathroom when I am present. _

_Does that mean I'm not allowed inside? _his lips were being pressed to the side by his thumb. _I mean, it only seems fair, she probably meant it for both of us even though she only said Kira-kun's alias._

She walked into the bathroom with a smug look and slammed the door in both of their faces, "You can go get something to drink, Snafu!" she shouted as she turned on the bathtub, you could hear the water beginning to run.

In the blink of an eye, Snafu had darted through the walls and down the stairs with a crazy expression on his usually sinister face.

L sat outside the door, crouching carefully on the wooden floor, "Antigone-chan?" he looked around, completely unsure of what to do. _Twenty-three percent chance of actually being let in. Seventy-seven percent chance she'll have me wait in her room._

"L, you can come in!" she said cautiously, obviously not sure if Snafu was downstairs yet or not.

He walked through the wall slowly and cautiously, eyes shut in case she was still undressed and not in the bath.

She smiled a little at L's modesty, "L, you can't see anything but my head and neck. You can open your eyes."

He blinked and mused at the scenery before him. When he meant scenery he meant the bathroom.(A/N: Link is in profile, I'm too lazy to describe XD)

Antigone's hair was pulled back into a messy bun, her body covered by thick bubbles. L breathed a sigh of relief, a hand over his chest. He ignored the fact that there was no heartbeat under his flesh and ribcage, "You're sure that this isn't… uncomfortable for you, Antigone-chan?"

"L," she rolled her eyes, "don't worry about it, it doesn't bother me as long as you don't come too close." neither her smile nor the carefree tone of her voice faltered.

He sat on the black counter-top in his usual position, thumb placed between his lips, "Why do you not put me under suspicion of being a pervert?"_ Unlike Misa-san, _he thought with a chuckle.

"Because it's your _job _to look after me at all times, right?" she shrugged as she leaned her head back against the towel pillow, her eyes closed and voice still nonchalant. "For all you know I could write down names in the Death Note while I tell you I'm reading a book."

His breath caught in his throat, coughing and sputtering out his words, "That may be true, but-"

"You really think I'd be that selfish?" she raised an eyebrow. She grabbed her loofah and squirted out a fragrant lotion into it. "Oh and L?"

"Yes?" he looked up at her thoughtfully after the coughing subsided.

"We're in America, if you haven't noticed." she chuckled, "I know -chan is a way of showing a girl respect in Japan but…" her chuckling hadn't died down and her smile brightened, "I'm straight Italian!"

L mused this for a moment, "It seems to become a habit of mine." his look of concentration broke out into a look of accomplish, "A."

"A?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Antigone is a mouthful you know." he chuckled as he lay across the countertop on his stomach, his eyes shining like onyx diamonds. "A," he sighed with a wistful smile, "it fits you well."

"How?" she leaned forward, her arms crossed under the water against her chest, "How did you come to that conclusion, _L?"_

He sighed again and explained, "Remember when I said The Wammy House had named me?"

"Vaguely." she mumbled, but her voice rose to normal level, "Continue, though."

"Some people would say my name is, or was, L Lawliet. Some say that L stood for Lawliet, and that I didn't have a last name. It doesn't matter to me, oddly enough." _Maybe because you're _dead?! L's subconscious shouted, _You are dead! Pushing daisies! History! No one cares what truly happened to the world's three greatest detectives!_

"Anyhow, I was abandoned for reasons no one is exactly sure of." he continued, trying to ignore the little voice in his cranium, "The Wammy House took me in because… well Wammy's wasn't an average orphanage. It was a safe haven for intellectually gifted children, like me." he smiled a little at this, "When I took up going into the police force, being I didn't wish to rely on Wammy's forever, I didn't want to give my name to the public because I worked all the mass murder cases. These people could _kill me _if they had the right information.I took on the initial of my first name, L, and never showed my face to anyone except the task force I worked with. Even then did I use an alias."

_And how did that go, _Lawliet, the voice sneered at him, _Only cost you your life. How old were you when you died? Twenty-four?_

"Twenty-five," he hissed at the voice, trying to make sure Antigone didn't hear him. His voice had returned to its monotone tenor as quickly as it faltered, "I gave you the nickname A because: it's simpler to use, and also being it reminds me of…" he smiled sadly, "Home."

"Reminds you of home? How?" her eyes were brightening with excitement, like a child hearing their favorite bedtime story.

He cleared his throat, "Most of the children in Wammy's became apart of some task force in some different part of the world. There were five people I knew well there." he raised a finger for each name, "Mail Jeevas," he smiled at her. "Also know as Matt."

Her eyes widened in surprise, "You knew Matt?!"

"Vaguely." he shrugged, "Another boy was Mihael Keehl, also known as M… for Mello."

"Mello too?!" she whispered, her fingers were gripping the rim of the bathtub as she looked at him, "Anyone else?" _I want to know! I want to know who these men were, stat!"_

"I said five didn't I?" he rolled his eyes playfully, "There was Nate River. He was also called N for Near. Mello and Matt were Near's rivals during their time together."

"I'll look Near up later," she shrugged. "Two more, tell me!"

He grimaced, "This next person was malicious. He would stop at nothing to surpass me, _kill me _even. He was named B, originally meaning _Backup, _in case I died and my successor died_. _Later it stood for _Beyond, _meaning to go beyond my successes and surpass me. Then, it eventually came down to BB, standing for _Beyond Birthday. _He didn't want to surpass me as a detective, oh no. He wanted to surpass me by creating a case I couldn't solve, he wanted me to never figure out who killed all those people in Los Angles." he stopped mid-thought and asked, "Have you ever heard of The Los Angles BB Murder Case, Antigone?"

"I recall something about it, there was an anniversary for it a few months back. It's been put under as one of the worst homicide cases in America." she tried her best to concentrate on past information.

"Correct." he nodded, "He tricked one of my partners into thinking he was me. He wore stage makeup to make his skin paler; he dressed like me, and even got colored contacts. In the end she could tell he was trying to be me, but BB failed in the end… because his eyes were crimson, like bloody rubies. You could see the flecks of red around the rims of his irises. He was killed in prison, by Kira."

"Who was the last person?" she pressed.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Antigone. You trust me right?" his eyes bored into hers, a pleading expression laced into them.

"More than I probably should, but yes I do." she nodded; _I'd do anything for him, because he's usually right._

"There was another boy in Wammy's, who was supposed to be my original successor. He was called A, meaning he was first in line. He couldn't handle the pressure, so he killed himself." he hung his head; _I really should have thought that over, shouldn't I?_

"I… I think I understand what you mean." she pressed her eyes closed and murmured, "You're comparing me to A because… if I was alive at the given time, you would've had me as your successor?"

"To be frank, yes." he nodded, "You are smarter than you look." he eyes bored into hers again, "I'm actually a little… afraid of you, A."

Her heart lightened at the sound of her new nickname, "Why is there reason to be afraid of me?"

"Kira-kun was just like you." he said reluctantly, "Smart, clever, good looking. He was the poster child for the perfect life."

"Where are you trying to get at this?" she snapped.

"They never taught you about the Death Note Tragedy in school?" he raised an eyebrow, _Are the FCC and the U.S. school boards really that stupid? The United States was brought into the Kira Case too, when Near hired his investigational team! _

"It's supposedly taught in Japan," she shrugged, "our society, as you noticed, doesn't need another mention of massacres. We're in pretty bad shape as it is."

"President Obama helped in the Kira Investigation here, correct?"

She nodded and replied, "Yes, he helped greatly with funding." the next part she mumbled under her breath, "Unfortunately Kira got to Cheney a month before the case was cracked."

"He wasn't the smartest man, was he?" L chuckled, remembering Cheney and Bush's mess ups in their first term. I guess the past can come back with a vengeance.

"From what my dad remembers no," she shook her head, "L, move out of the way please."

"For what reason?"

"I want to wash my hair and I'll need to expose myself-" she blushed a little at her modesty.

"I understand." he nodded and closed his eyes, "You can pick up the shampoo now, A." no matter how much he wished to see her completely exposed to him, this was not the time to mix business with pleasure.

A soft splash was heard and then a slick sound, probably Antigone lathering up her hair, reached his ears. "You're good."

He opened his eyes to see her hair covered in bubbles and water droplets splashing her bare shoulders, trailing down her arm, and back into the bathtub. He bit his lip, _You are asexual L! Quit this immediately! Maybe Misa-san was right, you _are _a pervert!_

L tried his best not to think about her this way, but it was too unbearable to him. His physical state, at the prime age of twenty-five, didn't help even with his eighty year-old mind chastising him.

"Thank you." she nodded, a small smile on her face, "You were saying?"

"Well…" he scratched the back of his head, "I want to know what America is like."

"Oh no," her smile widened, "I have loads more questions for you."

"Like what?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm of British nationality." he smiled, "Wammy's House is based in England, or was, I'm not sure if the orphanage still exists. I highly doubt it though." he said wistfully, remembering all the children's faces and his fellow comrades, most that were dead, "If I answer a question of yours, you have to answer a question of mine. Deal?"

"That seems fair," she tapped her chin, her smile becoming more mischievous. "Deal."

"My turn then." he smiled devilishly, "Were you born here?"

"I was born out in Sicily, like everyone else in my family."

"Details?" he pressed.

"Dad was afraid the police would find us out while Mom was pregnant. They left as soon as they were certain I wasn't a miscarriage."

"That makes much sense." he pondered, _They couldn't possibly run into a hospital screaming the Mafia leader's wife is going into labor._

"My turn." she raised a finger, "How many countries have you gone to?"

"More than I can count." he chuckled, "Let's see… I went to America a few times; the clearest memories are from the LA BB Murder Case. I went to…"

And that's how most of the day went on, L told Antigone stories of his detective work. Each story captivated the young girl's mind as it was retold through words and actions with the man's spidery hands and fingers.

He smiled as the stories went on, "And then-" he stopped short. Japan was the next, and last, destination in his detective career. He wouldn't kill her spirit so quickly. He enjoyed seeing her happy too much.

From what he had seen, Antigone was extremely interested, but he wanted to leave this story for another time. Meaning never. Because… How would she take it if she held the very thing that murdered him? That brought him to her? She'd give up the Death Note immediately. If telling her he was killed with it, telling her that the previous owner of her notebook was Kira, killed him, and killed her former family would make her heart break.

"What?" she motioned him to close his eyes as she stepped out of the tub.

He squeezed his eyes shut, "And then I died. …Overworked myself and gave myself a heart attack."

She wrapped a towel around her small frame, "L, you sounded a bit apprehensive just then. Something wrong?"

"No," he lied, a fake smile appearing, "I'm fine."

He wasn't fine, not in the slightest. After bringing up his past, not to mention his cases and the lies revolving around his death, he felt homesick. He wanted to relive those years when he would stare, with his thumb between his lips, at Mello and Near as the small albino child was chased around by the infuriated blonde. He wanted to go back to when Matt would let him take apart the younger boy's Game-Boy and hack it so it could play any game they pleased.

He missed his supposed successors, they were his only family, but he especially missed Watari. Watari had rescued him and brought him to Wammy's. He was with L at every case, always helping like the compassionate man he was. Even in the Realm of Angels did the two have their traditional conversations. Quillish "Watari" Wammy was the closet thing to a father figure L had ever known, and he missed him terribly.

He felt a moist sensation trickle down his cheek. He dabbed the solution with his thumb and looked at it with a confused expression, _Am I… showing emotion?_

"L? Are you crying?" Antigone looked at him with concerned eyes, the auburn eyes filled with a nervous expression.

"No!" he said, wiping the water away with his sleeve, "I'm just missing… them." his eyes watered with unshed tears, "I'm missing my family…" he said, almost in a daze, as he sat on the ground, and did something no one had ever seen before.

L Lawliet, the three greatest former detectives, curled up into a ball on the tile floor and cried. Loud and long, it was like he was making up for all the times he should have cried in his life, but he was too collective and pensive to show it.

Antigone lay next to poor man and crooned, telling him it was alright. That she wasn't going to hurt him. She wasn't sure if this was true or not, or if he'd hurt her in the process.

"Antigone!" Snafu shouted with a quick rasp on the door, "You've been in there for a while?! Did you drown?!"

Her expression went stone cold, "You only wish!" she snapped as she opened the door as fast as possible, causing the door to slam him into the wall.

"Ow… Did you do that on purpose?!" he snarled, his eyes flashed pain and annoyance at once.

"No…" her feigned innocence died away quickly, replaced with a smirk of triumph, "But I'm glad I did!" and with that, she turned on her heel and strutted all the way back into her bedroom.

After towel-drying her hair and slipping into her pajamas, (A/N: link in profile!) Antigone finally retired to her bed and snuggled under her down comforter.

L sat on the beanbag chair, the clouds still passing over the house like a bad omen, _Kira-kun is the bad omen. Or is it me? We could both very well drag her to her death. _he looked over at the Jones girl, a wistful smile on his face, _Can't you be simpler, A? _he stood and walked over to the foot of her bed.

He noticed her hand was lying carelessly over it and peeking out from under the blanket, begging for contact.

He lay at the foot of her bed and murmured to the young woman, they were incoherent and thrown in to different languages. His lips lay a delicate kiss on her hand, even though she couldn't feel it. He smiled at the feeling of her blood running through her hands, it made her alive. He welcomed the warmth, nuzzling the palm of her hand.

And even though he knew she couldn't feel it, he didn't mind. Because he knew Antigone would understand in the morning, she always did.

A scream shattered the peacefulness of Antigone's bedroom, and possibly the entire manor, causing L and Snafu to bolt straight to the girl's bedside as she breathed heavily.

L's smile was prominent now, he knew what he had done, "Something wrong, A?"

Snafu was, if anything, concerned that she had gone completely insane, "Are you alright? That was pretty loud, I think the deaf were even able to hear that one." he was talking in a louder voice than usual.

_Maybe I blew out an eardrum. _she pondered, a slight smirk gracing her features at the two looked at her with concern, _I wonder if I could do that again and make him completely deaf… I could insult him all the time if I did! Wait- I'm not that mean, am I?!_

L could see the cogs turning in her head, one of them completely catching her off guard. He smiled at this, _Not as nice as you seem to be, eh?_

"Nightmare, nothing to be so worked up about. I don't even really remember." she sighed as her breathing returned to its norm.

A soft whisper reached her ear, in a deep monotone, "Tranquille strade di suburbia sarà riempito con gemiti e urla di piacere, dolore e rabbia. Basta dare la parola."

She glanced back and realized it wasn't L nor Snafu and she took a long breath. _I've gone delusional, all over that damn book! I'm gonna get an ulcer. _


	8. Agreements in Arguements Part 1

_Agreements in Arguments - Part 1 -_

"Antigone! We're home!" her father shouted, knocking his daughter out of her daze.

"Coming, Dad!" she shouted in return as she opened the bedroom door and ran to the foot of the banister, her smile evident, "How was Sicily?"

She was truly happy her parents were home, she had began to worry when they were coming home. They stayed for, at the max, a week away from home. _New record, _she thought.

The three Joneses looked exhausted, her father and brother had bags under their eyes and their hair was disarrayed more than it usually was. Their clothes were also wrinkly and smelt of a terrible concoction.

Her mother didn't have any makeup on; she looked completely out of character. Her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. Her clothes were also in disarray, wrinkled and slightly stained. In short: They did not look like they could own a multi-million dollar mansion and ten European sport cars, with a few extra in storage.

L stood on Antigone's right, Snafu on her left. Both in complete shock at seeing the three possible vagabonds.

L whispered to her, "I know I've never seen your parents but… they look extremely worn out, are they always like this?"

He could tell it was Antigone's parents. Her mother's eyes and body along with her father's skin and hair made her look like an uncanny mixture of the two. He wasn't as sure about her brother being biologically related to her. _He has the same structure and hair, like his father, but no resemblance to his mother. The eyes are what leave me extremely suspicious. Perhaps Mr. Jones was remarried? Or are his traits completely dominant? _He wasn't scared by this at all, what was really getting him nervous was how alike he and Mr. Jones truly were. _Even though he's over twice my physical age, he looks so much like me. It makes me wonder… what is he a mix of? His _true _name is Gordon, but his official name is Jones. Both are of British roots. Jones meaning neighbor. I don't remember what Gordon means so I'll just have to look it up with Antigone's help… I've forgotten?! _he inwardly began to panic, _How can I possibly remember anything and help the girl if I'm forgetting things so easily! I am _L _for crying out loud! _

Snafu wasn't as kind, "There isn't a good looking gene in your family tree, no wonder you're so ugly!" he sneered.

She hissed in anger and stomped on his leather-covered foot, causing a stream of curses to fly from the thing's mouth. Both L and her smirked in triumph.

Of course he was the devil in Antigone's, and L's, eyes. He looked at Mr. Jones more carefully after his shouting died down, _Has L be reincarnated, like I thought before?! _he looked more closely and breathed heavily, _There's only one way to find out… but I don't want to cause a scene. _

"The trip was excruciating, on all of us." her father ran a hand through his tousled hair, completely unaware of his daughter's actions. "Can you make me a cup of coffee?" he looked at her with a pleading expression.

"How many?" she replied as she slid down the banister, like always, and landed in a crouched position.

She had been doing this since she was eleven; her mother had given up on telling her to stop at twelve. To be honest, Margaret had mastered the art of banister sliding after escaping her father's murderer.

"Two please." he sighed, "You know I don't like you doing that!" he feared for his only daughter, he didn't want to lose his little girl… no matter how old his "little girl" was.

"Dad, I've been doing this for seven years." she sighed as she regained her perfect posture, "Old habits die hard."

Her mother smiled fondly and ruffled her daughter's hair, "Like mother like daughter, as the saying goes." she sighed and began to walk up the wooden staircase, wincing as she took tiny steps in her scuffed stilettos, "I'll be in the bathtub, taking a nice long soak. Antigone dear, did you take my loofah?"

"It's in my bathroom." she stated, "Feel free to use my body wash too, heaven knows you need it." she plugged her nose teasingly.

"Bless you sweetheart." she smiled gratefully and began to skip a few steps in a haste to make it to the warm water that awaited her.

"I think I'll go change my clothes, Dad I suggest you do too." Paulie looked over at his father and went upstairs also.

Antigone smiled at her father, "I'll make the coffee while your getting dressed, go on." she gently pushed him to the foot of the stairs.

He chuckled, "Alright, alright. From the sincere service it would seem like you're trying to get rid of your old man."

"You know I love you, Daddy." she pouted cutely and kissed him chastely on the cheek.

"OK you've talked me into it." he laughed and kissed his only daughter on the forehead, "Five minutes, that's all you get!"

As she made her way into the kitchen, Snafu looked over at her, "Can you make it three?"

She sighed reluctantly, aware of what he meant by that, "Fine." she looked over at L out of the corner of her eye.

"Do you have anything high in sugar and low in protein?" he looked around the gigantic kitchen, completely oblivious to the Shinigami practically vibrating in place as the scent of coffee beans wafted throughout the spacious area.

_Candy? Cake? _she wondered as she took out the Maxwell House and poured it into the coffee maker. _That's all I can think of… _She walked to the candy jar and nudged her head a little in its direction.

He nodded eagerly, "Yes, exactly." _It'll be good to have something to eat; I've missed the feeling of being full._

She hastily poured both Snafu's and her father's mugs of coffee. "Coffee's up, Dad!" she shouted as she stored Snafu's cup away behind the coffee maker.

Her father took a seat at the bar, in a pair of grey pajamas and a black robe, and lay his head down, "I feel like a Wall Street stockbroker during The Recession." he also scrunched up his toes against the fuzzy red slippers he wore.

"You left on such short notice, I got a little worried." she shrugged as she placed the mug in front of him, "What was so big that you left so suddenly?"

"We had a meeting, took forever for it to end." he looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and then eyed his coffee, "Cream and sugar please?"

"Sure." she nodded as she subtly snatched a lollipop from the jar and snuck it into her pocket, _For L, later on._

Snafu downed his coffee, completely content for the moment.

L smiled a little, "Thanks."

She nodded and placed the cream on the bar for her father, "Give me a second for the-"

Said man was out like a light, snoring peacefully on the marble countertop.

Then a thought came to Antigone's mind, "Snafu, I'll be right back, don't move! That's an order." she warned, a subtle look to L in meaning for him to follow her to wherever she was going.

The raven-haired specter breathed a sigh of relief as they walked up to Antigone's bedroom, until Paulie stopped them in their tracks.

"Antigone!" he smiled, draping an arm over her shoulder, "How's it goin' little sis?"

"…Fine?" she raised an eyebrow, "What did you do and what do I need to lie about?" she pushed his arm off her, "Because I'm not holding myself accountable for any of the shit you did." she began to walk down the hall and into her bedroom, until his voice cut her off again.

"Nothing like that!" he said with a booming laugh. Paulie ran in front of her, stopping her, and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Where's Dad?"

"Dad fell asleep at the bar, there's an extra cup of coffee downstairs going cold if you want it." she said nonchalantly, "Now if you'll excuse me," she ducked under the bigger man's arm and faced his back, "I have an outfit to pick out." and with that she quickly ran back into her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

L breathed a sigh of relief as the girl slumped against the wall, "You alright, A?"

"I could be better, if you noticed." she chuckled wearily and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yes I did notice," he mused as he sat next to her. "I also noticed your father falling asleep three point seven seconds after you handed me my candy. He won't remember."

"Well, unlike my dad, I won't forget you when this is all over." her smile faltered in a look of confusion, "Right?"

"Antigone…" he sighed, "I'm _only _here because of the Death Note. When you lose the Death Note, you lose me too."

Reality hit her like a ton of bricks; _I don't want to lose L! But I don't want to slip up and write someone's name down by accident! _she closed her eyes and placed her head in her lap, "Oh L, what am I gonna do?"

_I want her to hold onto it, for my sake and her sake. If she gives up the notebook there's a _ninety-three percent chance _that Kira-kun _will _kill her immediately following her relinquishing of it. _L sighed and bit down on his thumb, _…I really must be selfish; I could kill her myself and not even know it! Gods only know that I've scarred her mentally with my spirit here. This is her responsibility, but it's my responsibility for her to give it up immediately. It's been two weeks now, and I still want her to give it up… but I want her to be with me. What they think if they could hear my thoughts? Would they throw my soul back into heaven and forbid me from looking over the human realm? Or worse, would they send me into the Void?_

"L?" Antigone's voice brought him back to the present, "I… I want you to stay here."

"But it's my job to make sure you give-"

"I don't _care._" she pressed, her hands shaking as they were barely centimeters away from his, "I'll hide the Death Note and still hold the rights to it, whatever it takes. _You are not leaving my side!" _she took a shuddering breath, "Promise me that, L Lawliet. Promise me you won't leave."

"I have no choice, but if I did I still wouldn't leave." he smiled.

"_Antigone!" _Paulie threw the door open, the items on her shelf began to rattle as the door impacted with the wall, "Dad wants you downstairs, he wants to tell you something."

"What's up, Paulie?" she raised an eyebrow as she stood up.

"I know what's up, but Dad wants to tell you himself. So get your butt downstairs and quick, he looks like he's ready to fall back asleep." he dashed downstairs again, shaking his head, _How's she gonna take it?_

Antigone whispered to L, "Come on," and they walked downstairs into the parlor to find her mother and father on the black leather couch, her brother in the wooden armchair on their right, and another armchair in across from them and the glass coffee table.

"Ah Antigone, sweetie." her father smiled wearily, "Take a seat, there's something we need to tell you."

She sat down across from them and crossed her legs over, "What's up?"

Snafu stood behind her chair, hands on the back of it. L lay at her feet in his usual position. It was almost as if she was a queen being waited by her evil advisor - Snafu - and her beautiful man in waiting - L -. Her thoughts were humorous at the thought of L being her servant, waiting on her hand and foot. She wouldn't do anything less than be kind, like he was to her. She cared for him too much to treat him like scum.

"It has to do with our… business, dear." her mother sighed, running her thumb over her husband's knuckles.

L's and Snafu's eyes were fixed on Antigone's every move, they were interested in how this would go over with the young Jones.

The eldest Jones sighed and began to speak very softly, almost incoherently.

Antigone's eyes widened in shock, _"What _did you say, Dad?!"


	9. Agreements in Arguements Part 2

_Agreements in Arguments - Part 2 -_

_The eldest Jones sighed and began to speak very softly, almost incoherently._

_Antigone's eyes widened in shock, "_What_ did you say, Dad?!"_

He sighed again and spoke softly, "We made a deal with Donavan."

Her head began to spin, the room was coming in and out of focus as her family waited to see and hear her response.

L and Snafu looked at her with equally concerned looks, "Antigone? (A?) Answer me! (Are you alright?!)"

"L…" she moaned, her arms flailing out to touch him. She had to be strong. And she knew L would do this for her.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and the last thing she heard was L's assurances and her family's shock of her almost fainting.

- L's POV in Antigone's body -

I must say, it was interesting watching Antigone go into shock. I was extremely worried, the look of panic going over her face as we walked into the parlor made my theories jump up ten percent. This made me almost positive that she would faint on us. Luckily, Antigone reached out for me at the last possible second. Now how I would explain _why _I, she, almost fainted?

"Antigone!" her mother breathed heavily, extremely scared for her daughter's body, "What _happened _love?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Mom." I shook her head delicately, as she would do, "D-did you say we made a deal with the _President _of the United States?"

"Yes that's what I said." her father nodded, "I know that you were extremely against this when you heard it, An, but this is a _huge _opportunity! We could come out of hiding-"

"If we're in hiding, how did they figure us out?" I replied.

I highly doubt this was something she would say to her parents, but I was curious. The Mafia has been around now for roughly two hundred years as an infamous wife's tale originally. NYPD has cracked down on former Mafia members, ones that weren't even alive when Mr. Jones was born, and obviously Mr. Jones made sure they would _never _be found out.

So why did they let themselves go out into the open with their true colors showing? Maybe the Mafia isn't as coldhearted as I was taught at Wammy's, although I could be wrong- which is highly unlikely.

"I offered our services, through our calling card." he said, "You remember the crest?"

"I cannot say that I do." I shook her head, and I was interested in what the "crest" and "calling card" looked like. "Care to remind me?"

He slipped a hand into his robe pocket and revealed a white strip of paper. It was a business card no doubt. It was stamped with an "A" and an "M" in the Old English MT font. I tried my best not to frown, _That's _my _font. My font, my calling card, is used in illegal activity! That font scared criminals! Now it scares everyone alike! _

Kira-kun, as well, was disturbed by the card. His brows furrowed in confusion and his jaw was locked to such an extreme if a human did this they would have broken their teeth.

"We used your initial, as you remember." he smiled sadly, "Because according to the government's records: You don't exist, as you already know."

"I-I don't exist?" I tried to keep her calm composure. She wouldn't be able to vote or go out in public… she's under an alias. I saw the forged driver's license. Did they do this to protect her, or to protect themselves? What else has been hidden from Antigone, and does she even know? I looked over at A out of the corner of my eye; she was still sprawled out on the floor in my body. She looked so peaceful, almost angelic. I could _see _her soul inside of me, and it was at peace for the moment.

_My sweet A, enjoy it while it lasts, for when you wake… all hell shall have broken loose._

"We told you about this years ago, An." her brother, Paulie if I recall, snapped, "Quit playing dumb."

"Sorry." I mumbled, "So you were in Sicily… to compromise with President Donavan?"

"Duh." Paulie spat at me, it was obvious he was in no mood for my questions, "Look, we're leaving for D.C. in three days. Pack your bags and drive down with us in the Cadillac."

"No!" I shouted, I shook her head, "Who said you were in charge of this little operation anyhow, Paulie?!"

He snarled and stood up, knocking his chair over in the process and into the table, "You don't get it! Antigone, this isn't about you! This is about us getting a real shot at life!" he grabbed me by the collar of her shirt, "The world doesn't revolve around you!"

I grunted and flipped back out of his grip, her feet connected with his jaw harder than I expected. I landed on her feet, hunched over. Her hair covering her eyes sexily and mysteriously.

"Antigone!" Mr. Jones shouted, "Why did you do that?!" he jumped from his seat and kneeled to his son, "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah," he grunted, wincing as the word was spoken.

"Am I that much of a nuisance to you?!" I shouted, "Really am I?!" I really should not have said that, but curiosity had gotten the better of me.

_It seems Paulie is jealous of his sister, from what just happened. And from the smug look on his face when he left. One that A didn't catch. This would not turn out well._

Her father raised a finger and cleared his throat, "We'll discuss this-"

"Yes you are!" his only son cut him off, his face red with anger by now. "You-!"

"PAUL DAEMON JONES!" Mrs. Jones shouted, her kind and gentle composure - as A had described to me over the past weeks we had been getting to know each other - was contorted into a bedlam-like state. She was like the Other Mother from a story I had read in my spare time, Coraline if I recall correctly.

"Don't you _dare," _the young man hissed as I watched intently, trying to figure out what he would do next, _Twenty-six percent chance he'll get up and try to finish what he's started, there's also a thirty-one percent chance he'll go to the kitchen to get himself fixed up, the rest is undecided by him, I can tell._

"Mom," I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible, "let it go."

Mrs. Jones smiled sadly, "An, you know how I feel about you fighting with your brother-"

"She can take it." Paulie snapped, "She's _been _able to take it."

"Exactly." I nodded, "Right Dad?" I looked to A's father with a reassuring smile.

"Antigone is right, Margaret." he nodded, "She's been taught well, by her big brother." he smiled proudly at the two.

His son looked down and flashed an incredibly cheesy smile at me, "Yeah, right little sis?" he wrapped an arm around her waist comfortingly, "Sorry for thrashing out at you." he mumbled, almost reluctantly.

"Are we positive he's not bi-polar?" I bluntly asked, another thing that I had concluded in the past minute and a half. This man had some definite mental issues.

"We went over this when you were ten, An," her father laughed, "your brother does not have bi-polar disorder."

_Damn sounds like it… _I looked over at A, a grim smile on my face as I glimpsed her soul flutter back to consciousness. _Piacevole sonno, A?_

(A's POV)

As I opened my eyes, the picture was coming in and out of focus like the last time we switched. How long was I out? For a while, I guessed, from the expression L had on his face we were in deep shit and there was gonna be _hell _on my end of the conversation when we went back to normal.

"I think I need a long bath… to get everything together, y'know?" L said, detaching himself from Paulie as quickly as possible.

As he trudged upstairs, trying his best to keep my back straight, my mother called up, "The loofa's in my bathroom."

He nodded and kept trudging upstairs and into the bathroom, "Thanks." he mumbled.

I decided to stay behind and see if they would say anything else, a pastime I've been doing for a while. No secret was safe when I was in ear shot.

"Well she took that well," Paulie snorted. "She barely fainted!"

_How I hate it when he underestimates me! He doesn't know half the shit I've been going through! The Death Note, Snafu, L, I could go on for hours with the stuff he doesn't know about me!_

"Well at least _I _have an education, unlike _someone _who dropped out of the eighth grade! _I _will be able to get a job, you worthless free loader! _I _am in top shape unlike you, you fat pig! Mom and Dad love me more than you!" I shouted in a blind rage, I could almost swear that they heard me when their faces were filled with sadness.

"It's a lot to take in," Dad replied in my defense. "Especially for An."

"You treat her like she's a doll, it's like she's trapped in a fucking glass case!" he retorted, "She can take it, so why don't you just let her go?! She's eighteen for Christ's sake!"

"Don't you remember that _you _were in the same situation when you turned eighteen?" Mom said gently, a hand on his back.

"_I_ didn't have an older brother that only wants best for me breathing down my neck." he said quietly, then his voice rose in volume, "I want what's best for Antigone, that's all!"

"So you think dragging her into the Mafia is the best thing for her?! Should we marry her off to some mobster or have her become a gooma?!" Dad was roaring in anger now, it's always been obvious to me that he didn't want me born into this family, not that he didn't want me born in general. Now I understood why.

You have to realize this: Men in the Mafia don't have to get married, but women do if they want to survive here. I'm not sure if I, being the head's daughter, will be an exception to this rule. Of all the men I've met in our mob, none of them are good men- like my father and Paulie. They lie, cheat, and steal anything they can get their fat, greasy hands on. Not to mention that they screwed more women than there _are _women in this ring of thieves. These men are all dead now, thank God. But I refuse to be married to someone I don't love.

"No, of course not!" Paulie screamed, it made me wonder if L could hear any of this from the bathroom, "But what choice does she have?!"

"She could forge a birth certificate; we could hack the registration files in D.C. and put in her name and information." Mom replied easily, her patience was wearing thin. Only when her patience was wearing thin when she instigated with us, which wasn't normal.

"She can't be put under the name Jones!" he hissed, "They'll figure it out immediately!"

"Then what do you expect us to do?!" Dad shouted as he gripped Paulie by the shirt, causing him to lift a few inches off the ground.

"Change her name, kick her out, erase all the files we have on her." he whispered, "Give her another chance; if she ever comes back we'll say we never had a girl."

The room went silent, Dad's eyes were wide with shock and Mom's were welling with tears. I could feel my own tears starting to fall. As they hit the floor it made no mark, made no sound, just invisible to the naked eyes. Eyes full of innocence, eyes that haven't seen half the shit I have in the past weeks.

The cogs were turning inside their heads, trying to figure if there were more cons than pros to this, begging that there weren't.

"You can't just expect us to let her go, can you?" Mom whispered frantically, her voice cracking from the tears about to be spilt.

"It's for the best, don't you want what's best for her?" he pressed, "I hate to say it but…" he hung his head, "She doesn't belong here."

"She's our daughter, and your sister!" Dad shouted, "How _dare _you think such things!"

"Even if we went through the initiation, could she really _kill _someone? The final test to show that she's Mafia material?"

"It's in her blood," he said bitterly.

"No, it's not." my brother replied grimly, "It never will be."

My heart broke in two; my own family was letting me go. How was this possible?

"I refuse," Mom shook her head, "I won't let Antigone go."

"But the others will wonder, they'll thin out the families, ridding of the weaker ones. Antigone isn't safe here, Mom!" he pressed, "They'll kill her, they've killed women like her before. For the good of the Mafia."

"It's settled: Antigone isn't safe here." Dad said, his voice was clipped, but also choked with emotion. "We'll leave her with enough money, the Corvette, and her stuff." he whispered.

"When does she have to leave?" Mom spoke softly.

"Three days, when we leave for D.C." he replied as my eyes glassed over with tears.

I screamed incoherent things, my eyes stinging with tears as I climbed the stairs to my bedroom.

L waited for me on the bed, a somber expression placed on my face as he whispered. "I'm sorry."

Snafu even held a look of remorse for who he thought was me. "Antigone-"

"Go away." L snapped at him, "Go find something to do, just _leave!" _my voice was choked with sorrow as he demanded.

He nodded sadly and his gossamer wings led him to God knows where.

"L…" I whimpered, a simple pawing at my shoulder switching us back to normal, "L…" my voice cracked and I broke down in tears.

"A…" he sighed as he looked over me mournfully, "I'm so sorry…" he leapt to his feet, "I'll-"

"Don't leave," I whimpered. "Please?"

"I won't leave." he nodded somberly as he lay next to me. And that's how the night went on. I huddled into the fetal position under my covers, crying softly as L crooned sweet words of nothing around me. My eyes finally closed as he sighed and spoke softly, "Ti amo, tanto."

(Snafu's POV)

As I sat on the roof of the Empire State Building, it started to pour down rain, just like the night Antigone found my notebook. The memories of today flew through my mind, especially the last sentence.

"_Go find something to do, just _leave!"

The emotion-choked sentence left me shocked. I was starting to think Antigone was only emotionally programmed to be angry, but then when we heard from upstairs the argument downstairs… I realized Antigone was truly human, I saw tears running down her cheeks and denial flash in her eyes. I knew that pigment of color, I had seen it so many times when L was alive and kept bickering about me being Kira.

I know I'm supposed to be a cruel, heartless Shinigami and not get involved with her, but something about her is so… different. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because I wasn't born a Shinigami, but a human, and I still have human emotions. I've also taken on my human form because I was born this way. The only noticeable change is the way my fingers look from not trimming them, they're practically claws.

She's so much like L, and not just appearance. Sometimes, when she's asleep, I wonder if L ever had any children that eventually had his grandchildren. The only things that make me positive she's not a Lawliet are her eyes. They look like mine, and I know for a fact I didn't have any children and Sayu doesn't have the same colored eyes as me.

It makes me wonder, if I took her Death Note and wrote down in it… would I turn to dust? That means I would love her, right? Ugh, this sucks.

"Light?!" someone shouted, I noticed a pair of leathery, black wings coming toward me, "Light is that you?!"

"Ryuuk!" I shouted, thank the Gods he finally found me. It had been too long since I had seen my "father-figure", and it was good to see a familiar face.

"Hey, there you are! Been looking all over for ya!" Ryuuk's evil smile appeared, "See you got tied down, eh?"

"Yeah," I shrugged; it made me sound like I was married. "A girl named Antigone."

"Antigone?" he laughed a little at the way it sounded, "You know I still have my notebook, want me to take her off your hands?" he sounded a little guilty when he spoke again, "It _is _my fault you're stuck in this mess."

"No!" I shouted, almost a little too quickly.

"No?" he cocked his head to the side, a sinister smile stretching over his horrid face, "Don't tell me you've fallen in _love _with the poor girl. Don't you remember what Rem told you about Gelus?"

Gelus: The Shinigami that fell in love with Misa and gave her all those extra years, only to have them be wasted away by making the Eye Deal twice. But then again… Rem died for Misa, and she - meaning Rem - had at least hundreds of years on her. Maybe Misa is still alive, living off her modeling and acting salaries from the past.

"Of course not!" I retorted, "I just think… she's too interesting to kill yet." I lied.

To be honest, I had grown attached to the girl. I hadn't grown attached to her random, and vicious, attacks on me, but attached to her nonetheless.

"What makes her so special?"

I snorted, "Antigone _Jones _is the Mafia boss' only daughter. It'd be a little peculiar if she died of a heart attack at the age of eighteen, ne?"

"No wonder you haven't killed her yet." he shrugged, "But don't you remember that's only by default? Only you could figure out an interesting, and plausible, way to kill the little brat."

"Of course I remember," I snapped. "I just think it's not smart to kill someone who's of such high ranking in the most infamous family of Europe and America."

"Well you're not gonna wait around until she dies, right?" he pressed, "You know how _angry _the others are at me for leaving, especially the King?!"

"The King can stuff it for all I care; I need you to be here!" I pleaded, "Do you remember how boring it was to look after me?! I need someone to hang around with when she's out in public."

Ryuuk reluctantly sighed, "Alright I'll stay. You're lucky I'm your mentor, or I wouldn't have agreed."

"Thanks, Ryuuk." I smiled and nodded.

Thunder crashed and lightning flashed across the city that never sleeps as we looked over with a small smile. Times Square was crowded with multi-colored umbrellas and people screaming things I couldn't make out there were so many people. But I could make out their life spans, always. I smiled sadly, "I need to get back and see if Antigone is any better, she gave me permission to leave." as with that, I jumped off the side of building and let the thrill of the freefall take over me until my wings stretched and glided me across the unsuspecting crowds.

Ryuuk chuckled as he followed suit, "Has she written anything yet?" he shouted to me.

"No!" I shouted back, "She refuses!" I sighed, _Maybe that's the best thing for her. She's screwed up enough, one more thing on her shoulder isn't good for her, imagine the stress! _my "human" side chastised me, _Don't you remember when _you _had the Death Note? You were juggling the Perfect-To-Everyone-While-Perfecting-The-World Act. Imagine the I'm-The-Mafia-Leader's-Daughter-Who-Has-To-Become-The-Perfect-Heir Act, while studying and has the Death Note on her hands._

_This is true, _I mused to myself, _Perhaps I should take more sympathy-_

And that's when it happened. A dull thud came from inside me, almost as if it was a heartbeat. I almost fell into the crowd I was in so much amazement, and shock. Fifty years, _fifty fucking years _since I heard my heart beat. I had heard others' heartbeats stop abruptly because of me, but never restart. _What could this mean to me…? Am I truly still human?_

"Hey Light! You okay?!" Ryuuk shouted over the crowds, causing my concentration to break.

I looked up at the sky to see the rain had stopped falling, and the clouds were parting to display a sliver of the moon. It was like a half smile, almost as if someone was looking at me from afar, maybe even proud of me for my deed, "…Yeah Ryuuk, just fine." and with that, I picked up speed again and looped my way back to Antigone's bedroom… or what will be her former bedroom in three days.

_(Normal POV)_

Ryuuk smirked as they passed through the streets and into the girl's bedroom.

Snafu lay on the beanbag chair, his eyes starting to droop a little bit. Eventually he fell asleep, soundly at that, leaving Ryuuk completely bored and the only one conscious.

He examined the room, it was very modern, very proper for a young girl. Then he examined the girl in the bed.

She had a fair complexion, the faint moonlight hitting her face to give it ivory glow and her hair a more violet tint to it.

_I don't remember L having any children, _Ryuuk thought as he stared down the unsuspecting girl. The Death Note, laying upside down on her nightstand, caught his beady yellow eyes. He chuckled as he pulled his own Death Note out of his back pocket, eyeing the red and misty lifespan over her head. _A lifespan that isn't set in stone, how ironic! _he chortled sinisterly.

As he flipped open a random page, another name caught Ryuuk's eye. "Light Yagami" was etched into the cursed parchment. His sickening laughter filled the room as he pressed his pen into the paper and…

"DON'T YOU DARE, RYUUK!"

The caught Shinigami whirled around, his eyes mixed with the pigments of shock, amusement, and fear. But his creepy, trademark smile still appeared and widened at every syllable, "It's been a while… L Lawliet."


	10. Secret Chapter: Still They Do Not Answer

_**Still the Killers do not Answer**_

_As he flipped open a random page, another name caught Ryuuk's eye. "Light Yagami" was etched into the cursed parchment. His sickening laughter filled the room as he pressed his pen into the paper and…_

"_DON'T YOU DARE, RYUUK!"_

_The caught Shinigami whirled around, his eyes mixed with the pigments of shock, amusement, and fear. But his creepy, trademark smile still appeared and widened at every syllable, "It's been a while… L Lawliet."_

L's eyes widened, _I did not expect that to happen. _He took a long, deep breath and began to speak calmly and clearly, "Yes it has been, Shinigami-san."

"Guess he never really killed ya, eh?" the Shinigami cackled, "I would've told him sooner, but it was too fun to watch this go unnoticed!"

"You mean… you knew?" he raised a bushy, black eyebrow.

"Rem didn't want to kill you, but she knew it would leave Light angry and Misa upset because _Light _was upset." he smiled maniacally. "Besides, when am I the one to spill information as soon as it comes?"

"But for fifty years?!" L pressed his fingertips at his temples, trying to numb the anguish rising inside him. "Strike that- fifty-_five _years."

"Again: When am I the one to spill information as soon as it comes?" he raised a deformed eyebrow to match L's calm façade, "Besides, you humans are too interesting." he chuckled to himself.

"Apparently Shinigamis do not have compassion, nor give any."

"Compassion?" Ryuuk asked, "What's that?"

"Something that neither you nor Kira-kun have, obviously." L said through partially gritted teeth, obviously not thrilled with Ryuuk's stupid questions.

"Well if you say so, then I guess it's true." he shrugged as he sat at the foot of Antigone's bed, tracing the embroidered pattern with a claw.

"Stay away from her." L demanded, "It's my job to protect her, and I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe."

"Strong words for such a weak person." Ryuuk quipped, "Just imagine what _Light _will say about this when he wakes up." he snickered. "Will he think I'm telling the truth? Or will I have to force little Antigone out her peaceful slumber to clear the air and all doubts?"

_He knows that Light is unaware of me. _L tried not to complain, but it would be hard to keep his identity a secret with Ryuuk around at all hours. This time Ryuuk was also player in this little game of cat and mouse. And this time: It was tag-teamed. L and A vs. Snafu and Ryuuk. _We won't win, twenty percent chance we'll - _she'll _-__get killed._

"Eh-L…" Antigone whimpered, her body shivering as she pulled her comforter closer to her. "N-no…"

L's obsidian eyes widen, while Ryuuk's canary-colored eyes crinkled in anticipation, "Let's see how you handle this, eh Lawliet? Oh and look!" he chuckled, pointing at the infamous lounging chair, "Light seems to be stirring a little bit too!"

_Do I leave her completely vulnerable? Or try to coax her back to sleep? _his eyes darted around the room, looking for anything to keep her quiet.

Then he saw it: A music box, it had a mahogany finish to it, sitting on one of the various shelves attached to her walls. He grabbed it off the shelf, nearly knocking over a few dusty, and thick, black books in the process.

Ryuuk chuckled; "Better hurry, Light's a light sleeper." his chuckle became a booming laughter, "No pun intended!"

"Your laughter isn't helping." L muttered as he opened the lid very carefully.

A small ballerina, or what he thought was a ballerina, popped out and spun on her ruby red pointes as a simple red and black leotard and tutu made her attire. The girl was ghostly white, like L and her owner, and her black hair was tied up in a bun by a simple red ribbon. He wound up the little key in stage's side and waited anxiously for the song to begin.

A soft and dream-like, but chilling, symphony filled the room.

L stared at it like he could see the notes and measures flying out of the box and wrapping around the room. They flocked around Antigone's bed as the chorus began, as it lulled her back to the safety of her subconscious.

_Hi miss Alice__  
Anata garasu no me de  
__Donna yume wo__  
Mirareru no?  
Miirareru no? _

Antigone breathed softly and snuggled the covers closer to her body. The Guardian breathed a sigh of relief. Then the notes disappeared from her side and began to respite Snafu.

_Mata atashi__  
Kokoro ga sakete  
__Nagare deru__  
Tsukurotta  
__Sukima ni sasaru  
Kioku tachi_

Snafu smiled softly, a look of pure innocence. He looked like… the person L had met and put under suspicion.

_If only he was. _L sighed sadly.

Even though L knew Light Yagami was Kira, he wished that the young man wasn't. He had a friend, a real friend, for once with him. It pained him in his final seconds of life to know Light lied to him and everyone else they had come to work with. But it was inevitable now: If Light knew that L wasn't dead, let alone looking after the mistress of his Death Note, he'd kill Antigone in a heartbeat. He would be thinking she made him happy, that she was the only reason to live as much as he could, and he would take that away from the poor man to think it'd finally kill him off. Body and soul.

It unfortunately woke the former first Kira from his slumber and blinked repeatedly, "Ryuuk," he yawned. "Why are you still up?"

"Thinking is all," the older Shinigami shrugged. "I looked around the girl's room and found this-"

"Snooping around a person's room isn't a good idea." he rolled his eyes, "What's that?" he pointed to the music box lazily.

"Antigone's music box, I took it down to see what it was." he shrugged again.

"Still Doll?" Snafu's voice went from his second language to his native tongue, "Naze kanojo ha jibun gaarimasuka?"

"Darega, nin no kurou wo shitte iru. Watashi ha, Raito, kini natteita."

L heard them clearly, a frown appearing on his face. _Seems he's always in the mood to do some crazy scheme._

Snafu continued on, his face locked with disdain, "Watashi ha, anatahakonoyouni kosokoso shiteirunante shinji rarenai."

"Nande are, watashi haikutsukashiyouto suimin wo toru tsumorida." Ryuuk chuckled as he made himself comfortable on the floor, "Yoru raitoguddo!"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he muttered, "Watashi ha asa ni ai mashou." he curled up into a ball and fell asleep, again, in the soft beanbag.

"Voi guardare, questo è tutt'altro che finita." L hissed as he lay next to Antigone's bed, like a loyal servant to his master- or mistress in his case.

_Because that is what I truly am. _he smiled a little at the irony, _A loyal servant… A Princess and a Pauper, their perfect Cinderella Story. Although I do not wear shoes, _he pressed a finger to his lips._ Perhaps I'd wear a mask and it'd be ripped off as I run away from the beautiful Princess Antigone._

His thoughts drew to a close as the music came to bless his tired soul. His eyes drooped and his lips parted slightly, trying to draw in one more breath before he slept for the night.

_Still you do not answer._

_...  
_

L opened his eyes to find Antigone awake and breathing heavily, "A-another Sh-Shinigami…" she pointed in Ryuuk's direction.

"Oh yes!" he grinned as Snafu sent a pleading look in her direction. "Name's Ryuuk!"

"Another genius." she muttered as she pushed herself out of bed, "Now why can I see you, I don't have your Death Note."

"Snafu's Death Note is originally mine, I have Rem's former Death Note."

"Rem?"

"She died before your time, enough said." he cut her off.

"He'll be staying with me, I promise you that he won't be a pain." Snafu insisted with a small smile, until his face contorted in agitation, "_Right, _Ryuuk?"

"Yeah." he shrugged, "Hey you got any apples, Antigone-"

"What am I? A food pantry?!" she screeched, "You want apples, Snafu wants coffee-!" she cut herself off in case she shouted _L wants candy. _"Go buy it yourself, or better yet, steal it! Your dead. So what that people will see a floating apple or a floating cup of coffee! I've seen worse! I've seen men swallow swords, I've seen carnies with forked tongues! Besides, people would be in denial that they saw it! So if you want your damn apples go get them yourself, damn freeloader." she grumbled as she stormed into the bathroom, a string of curses hanging in the air as she went.

That left Snafu, Ryuuk, and L in the room.

Snafu crossed his arms across his chest, "Alright Ryuuk, spit it out. Why are you really here?"

"I'm not the one to tell." he smirked, "If I told you," he looked around carelessly until he eyes were fixed on L's, "it'd spoil all the fun."

_He gave up his Death Note. _the other two concluded. Snafu's thoughts were more of a question, unlike L's simple and demanding statement.

"So it's gonna be like a game?" the younger Shinigami raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes indeed. I suspect this game to be even better than the one between you and L!" Ryuuk cried gleefully, "And, of course, every game has rules."

"And those rules would be?" the two asked in unison, causing L to glare at the former Kira.

"You vs. me," Ryuuk stated, "I've given another human my Death Note. It will definitely be interesting to see them fight against each other. You can help Antigone in any way possible, and that includes you can spy on me and my Death Note's new master. As can I with you and her."

"Anything else?"

"You can call on other people to aid as your assistance." Ryuuk's grin widened, "L would make a fine choice, too bad he's dead."

Snafu's eyes narrowed to slits, as did L's, "I can't believe you'd bring him up!"

"Believe me, if I didn't you'd be more lost than you already are Light."

"What, are you trying to say L's alive?!" he fumed.

"Maybe." the other Shinigami teased, he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, "You'll just have to figure that out for yourself."

"I'm going to get a drink." Snafu concluded as he pressed his fingers to his temples.

Once he walked away, Ryuuk looked over at L, "So, Lawliet, you gonna play?"

He smiled wryly and spoke causally, "I suppose I accept your challenge. But," he pressed a finger to his lips, "I'm the Shinigami in this game, meaning I'm favoring for either side. I'm neutral, and I'll help either player to keep the game moving." he lied, _I favor Antigone will win, instead of this other master. _

Ryuuk placed a black bracelet on his wrist, a small smirk appearing, "Then let the games begin."

* * *

Translations - in chronological order -

_Why does she have this? -Snafu_

_Who cares? I was in the mood, Light. -Ryuuk_

_I can't believe you'd sneak around. -Snafu_

_Whatever, I'm going to try to get some sleep. Good night, Light! -Ryuuk_

_I'll see you in the morning. -Snafu_

_You just wait, this is far from over. -L_


	11. Working Together?

_Working Together?_

_Once the two were gone, Ryuuk looked over at L, "So, Lawliet, you gonna play?"_

_He smiled wryly and spoke causally, "I suppose I accept your challenge. But," he pressed a finger to his lips, "I'm the Shinigami in the game, meaning I'm favoring for either side. I'm neutral, and I'll help either player to keep the game moving." he lied, _I favor Antigone will win, instead of this other master.

_Ryuuk placed a black bracelet on his wrist, a small smirk appearing, "Then let the games begin." _

"Ryuuk!" Snafu shouted as he walked back in, a cup of coffee in one hand and an apple in the other, "I thought you might want- HOLY SHIT!" he dropped the china cup, causing it to shatter into fragments and the drink to splatter on the wood floor. The other hand was pointing in L's direction, causing the apple to fly out of it and heading straight toward L's face.

L rolled his obsidian-shaded eyes and caught the apple with ease, taking a bite out of it casually, "Nice to see you too, _Light-kun_."

"Y-you're dead!" he screamed, his finger beginning to shake, "I watched you die in my arms, we buried you, I-!"

"Do not flatter yourself, it makes you uglier than you already are." he said coldly, "Ryuuk has allowed my participate in your little game." he smirked, "And I can assure you, Light-kun, it'll be more interesting as a specter than a pawn. Although I take pity on Antigone," _How I take pity on my A, the poor girl will need more than her memories erased to go on._

"How are you here?!" he persisted. "You never answered my question!"

_Hadn't L died?! _his mind was flailing and begging for any logical explanation for the bitter reunion. "This has gotta be a dream, I'll wake up to Antigone asking me if I've gone completely insane, I'll say something to insult her, and she'll physically attack me while shouting insults in various languages. Like she has for the past two weeks!"

"Idiots, all of you!" said attacker shouted from her bathroom, a sizzling sound barely audible. "You are insane Snafu, Ryuuk you're an ignorant asshole!"

"First impressions impact you that much, ne?" Ryuuk muttered.

"Heard that!" she replied hotly as she cursed under her breath as the sizzling sound increasingly became louder.

"What, nothing to say about me, A?" L smirked a little.

She poked her head out the door frame, looking at the two Shinigamis in slight shock and then over at L. She pointed a finger at him, "You can see him?"

"I've been able to see him since I arrived, it's obvious Light over here hasn't." Ryuuk nudged Snafu in the ribs.

"Well I knew Snafu couldn't see him. But how can he see him now?" she raised an eyebrow as she walked out of the connecting bathroom, her dull, bed head hair now pin-straight and shiny.

"This," Ryuuk grabbed L's wrist, revealing a black leather bracelet dangling on his lanky person, "makes him human. I was able to see him beforehand because L had touched Rem's Death Note before he died, which is the notebook I own."

"That would explain it, I guess." she shrugged, a yawn escaping her lips, "Look, there's a lot of shit going on in my life. I don't need you all causing a mess, it's bad enough you're actually here." she looked at Ryuuk one more time, wincing a little as she stared at him dead on, "Did you say… L is human?"

"Yes, why?" he raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you hear me."

"I did but I tried not to listen." she murmured, walking up to the now human L Lawliet, a shy smile on her face, "Hi…"

"Hello." he smiled, "Why the sudden-?" he never finished his sentence, Antigone's arms wrapping around his figure in a hug had silenced him in surprise.

She waited and waited for the switch to be made, but all she saw was his white shirt every time she opened her eyes, "You're really here." she breathed, his musky scent of cinnamon and sugar making her nostrils flare in hopes of getting more of the delectable scent, "I'm so glad you've _been _here, if anything."

He smiled warmly and returned the loving gesture, "I know, A, I know…" his chin rested on her crown. He was completely content, holding her in his arms. If only it could last longer.

"OK, cut the crap!" Snafu shrieked, his heart burning with anger as he watched his resurrected enemy turn into a huge softie, all over a girl, "L you're tougher than that! You hardly said anything to me, let alone answer any of my questions! How long have you known this girl, a day and a half?"

"Actually, as long as - if not more - you have been here." he said thoughtfully, "Not to mention spending days with her at school while you went off doing your own personal errands."

"This is true." Antigone pulled her head away from L's chest, a triumphant smirk upon her face, "L has been here the entire time. And you say I'm a terrible liar."

"If I knew he was here I'd have probably killed you by now." he growled, "So be grateful."

Her lips were set in a straight line, all expression disappearing from her face. She was completely still in her Angel's arms, "Y-you wouldn't d-dare…"

"Oh I would." he sneered, his inflated ego getting the better of him, "Did your "trying to not hear" plan fail you by the time Ryuuk and L said Light-kun?"

"I tried not to." she clutched to his arms tightly, her voice trembling, "But I did hear."

"You wanna know _why _they call me Light-kun?" his sneer growing, it was like the Grinch's, but more menacing.

"Pray tell." she whispered, half afraid and half curious of what he would say.

"Look up "Light Yagami" in your father's files." he smirked, "I'm too cunning to explain it."

"Lazy is the more accurate term," L replied coldly as he held onto A.

"Why would Light Yagami be in my father's files?" she raised an eyebrow, "That's a Japanese name, we only associate with Greece, the UK, the US, and Italy."

"Just look it up," he spat. "I'm in no mood for your smartass comments."

"Gee aren't we all." she mumbled as she walked across the room to open the door, "L? As much as I enjoy having you around, you might want to take off the bracelet."

"Good idea." he nodded in agreement and unclasped the bracelet off his wrist. He had vanished from Snafu and from everyone else besides Antigone and Ryuuk.

"I'm not happy with this." Snafu mumbled as they walked through the hallowed hallways.

"Does it look like I care?" she snapped as she walked down the spiral staircase.

"Ah, Antigone!" her father smiled cheerily from his armchair in the parlor, his hands folding up _The New York Times, _"Good morning!"

The pained feeling in her heart sharpened at her father's cheery façade towards her, "Morning." she said somberly.

"Something wrong?" concern creased his forehead and crinkled his eyes.

"Can I go into your office for a second?" she asked.

"What for?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I want to research something, about a guy name Light Yagami." she said sincerely.

"Light Yagami?" he cocked his head to the side in thought, "Who told you about Light Yagami?" his voice became more aggressive.

"It's been going around school about some kid named Light Yagami, he apparently had ties with us for a short period of time when you were a kid." she shrugged, "I wanna get the facts straight, the New Yoricans asked me to."

He shrugged in return, "You know the password?"

"Pitsco, right?" she said.

"Yes." he nodded, "Just don't look too long, your friend Scorchio called and needed you over at the club house."

"He called the house?" her eyebrows raised in surprise, "Isn't my phone on?"

"Guess not, he said he couldn't reach you on your cell and asked to give you the message."

"M'kay." she nodded as she walked to the dead center of the Jones manor, to her father's office.

The door was unlocked and ajar, a little odd being her father always had it locked when it wasn't in use. _Dad isn't slacking off, is he?_ concern clouded her thoughts as she pushed the door open.

No one was inside, luckily, and the computer was off. L had decided to put on his bracelet once again, no matter how badly he wished to attack Snafu.

After logging in and entering the password, the fluorescent screen popped up a search engine, almost like Google.

"Light… Ya-ga-mi…" she mumbled as her fingers flew across the keyboard and pressed the enter button.

Three different links came up, each referring to the mysterious person's name, but also to the name "Kira," "Kira? Who the hell is that?!"

"Same person, unfortunately." L shot an icy glare in Snafu's and Ryuuk's direction, "Click it."

She nodded and clicked, thousands of other files within the file opening and sprawled out across the screen.

"Shit…" she whispered, her hands flying, again, across the keyboard, "This has to be at least a gigabyte of memory just to hold it all in." she noticed there wasn't a profile to match the files with, "No one got a good look of this guy huh?"

"Do you even know what Kira means?" Snafu rolled his eyes.

"Care to enlighten me?" she snapped as she opened up a file marked "General Information." "Light, "Raito", Yagami was born on February 28th, 1989 in Kanto, Japan. Straight A student all throughout his school career, top of his graduating class at Daikoku Private Academy." she grimaced, "Smartass kid if you ask me."

L tried his best not to chuckle at her choice of words as Snafu glared at him from the other side of the room.

"The alias "Kira" appeared only a few weeks after obtaining, what we are now positive was, a Death Note. Death Notes are able to kill someone as long as a full and official name is written down along with the person's face in the writer's mind. That person will die in forty seconds of a heart attack by default - see Death Note files for more details.

"Light Yagami, as from what we have acquired from Task Force members and family of him, looked down on the Japanese Task Force because of their way of punishing criminals. When he obtained the Death Note, he reserved it for only killing criminals and "making the world perfect." The name "Kira" was given to him as more people heard about his work, most in praise, Kira being the term "killer" in Japanese."

"Which is exactly what he was. A killer." L shot in Snafu's direction, causing a rolling of auburn eyes to begin.

"He had an accomplice, AKA the Second Kira, who was model/actress Misa Amane. She was indebted to Kira after he murdered the man who murdered her parents. She committed suicide on February 14th, 2014. She was twenty-five."

"Light Yagami eventually became apart of the Kira Task Force to prove his innocence after L, the world's three greatest detective's, suspected him of the murders. Eventually he and Misa were put in confinement after L's suspicions increased. During their imprisonment, both apparently gave up their memories of the notebook: Misa by choice, Light by plan. Soichiro Yagami, his father, also confined himself for the same amount of time his son and Misa were. After putting a blank to Light's head and shooting, L is sure that Light isn't Kira at the moment, and neither is Misa. He still requires Light to be around at all times and to have a new bodyguard for Misa so he can keep an eye on her."

For the next fifteen minutes Antigone read aloud the information, until something caught her eye, "L was always a threat to Kira from the start, because he said his actions were still counted as murder and his accumulation of murders would give him the death penalty. L, "Ryuuzaki", Lawliet died on November 5th, 2007, at the age of twenty-five, from a heart attack, along with his caretaker Quillish "Watari" Wammy. -See Wammy's House for more information on L, Watari, and the Wammy Kids." she looked up at Snafu and L, wide eyed in realization, "Light Yagami is YOU!" she pointed at Snafu, complete anguish taking over her emotions, "You killed L?!" she looked over at the pained former detective, "You… _died, _because of that notebook upstairs in my bedroom?!" she shrieked. "You lied about your _death _to me?!"

"My job always held a huge chance of me dying, I was prepared." he smiled sadly, "In the last second of my life, when Kira-kun held me in his arms with that sick twisted smirk… I knew I was right. And in the end, I did win. Keep reading." his smile twisting into one of comfort.

She scowled and scrolled down the page. "Light Yagami died on January 28th, 2013, at the age of twenty-three, after being shot by Matsuda, a former Kira Task Force member, and revealed to be Kira by Near- L's successor. He died of cardiac arrest and fatal gunshot wounds." she looked up at the two, "There are missing pieces of the file. Don't lie, because I know you might."

"You're right. But that's because there are more files you must look through." L placed a hand on her shoulder, "But I think it's time we left to see your friend Scorchio, we've left him waiting long enough."

…

The drive there was in complete silence, L and Antigone in the seats while Ryuuk and Snafu flew over the top of the car.

"L?" she looked over at him as they switched gears for the fifth time that ride.

"Yes, A?" he raised an eyebrow, "Something you wish to talk about?"

"I just wanna know…" she sighed, "Why did you lie?"

"Because I knew that if I told you," he ran a hand through his messy hair, a soft sigh escaping his lips, "you'd give up the Death Note in a heartbeat. I want you to hold onto it. I want you to never have to be in fear of him killing you afterwards."

"If I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd say you're selfish." she replied.

"I just want what's best for you-"

"If I told you to leave because it was for my best interests would you do it?" her stare became more challenging.

"I…" he was at a loss, how could he possibly leave her? "I don't think I could."

She made a turn onto a dirt road, driving down it slower than she was used to in fear of the gravel blowing out her tires and scratching up the paint job, "What's gonna happen when I become an orphan, L? I won't have anything to my name, the car could be sold but then I wouldn't have a car to get me around." she sighed, "Any ideas?"

"Steal the money from Paulie's bedroom, enough to get you a plane flight to England."

"Why England?"

"Wammy's House will help you, you're extremely bright-"

"But I-"

"Thought I said Wammy's House didn't exist anymore? Yes. But I looked into it one night while you were asleep, Near took over the establishment."

"So I'll move into Wammy's House and be dependent on them for the rest of my life? I'm eighteen years old for God's sake!"

"You wouldn't be dependent on them, you'd find a job through them though. And a nice sum of money. I never had a will filled out, but Near is well aware of Shinigamis and Guardian Angels." he smiled triumphantly, "I've communicated with him a few times through dreams. Tonight I shall visit him and give him fair warning of your stay."

"I heard Ryuuk say something about a game? What's that about?"

"Ryuuk gave his Death Note away to another human, it's a game between Ryuuk and his master against you and Light-kun." a frowned form over his face.

"It's that bad?"

"I will be on your side, of course." his frown had become a small smirk, "Which means Light-kun and I will be working together again… This time for someone else's life, instead of our own."

"Working together?!" Snafu shrieked, "You must be joking!"

"L is the neutral one in all of this, he will do what it takes to keep this little game of ours moving." Ryuuk chuckled darkly.

"And, what, I have no say in this at all?!" Antigone shrieked. The last thing she wanted was a sick, twisted game to fuck up, and possibly cost her, her life.

"Nope." he popped the 'p', "None whatsoever."

"You both suck." she hissed as the clubhouse came into view, "C'mon you son of a bitch." she shouted at Snafu as she turned off the engine and stuck the keys in the back pocket of her jeans.

L stepped out of the car and sighed, sticking his thumb between his lips as Ryuuk chuckled to himself, while Snafu tried to glare him to death.

Tito, Scorchio's right hand man, waited for them at the door with his head down, "Eh, you finally made it." he smirked and looked up, completely taken aback by L's appearance, "Who's this?"

"Friend of a friend." she replied easily, "This is-"

"You can call me David." he said sternly to Tito, "I believe Antigone has an appointment with Scorchio?"

"Follow me." he turned on his heel and opened the door of the abandoned golf course's clubhouse.

Irons, wedges, and putters covered the walls, along with a few pairs of cleats. Scorchio sat in one of the plush, and deteriorating, armchairs near the rundown bar. "Antigone, there you are!"

"Sorry I'm so late, Scorch." she smiled apologetically, "What's up?"

"I got a message from someone who wanted me to deliver this to you." he hand her a folded black piece of parchment, her name scrawled in silver on the front. "Came in this morning. Person didn't say anything, couldn't see their face either. They were in a black, hooded coat."

"What'd he call himself?"

"Just said to give it to you, then he left. Got into a rundown Toyota and sped off."

She unfolded it and read:

_Antigone. _

_I am not the one for games, but I shall make an exception. You and Snafu against Ryuuk and me. Winner claims the other's Death Note, loser dies. I know you accept, because you truly have no choice. Scorchio's in on it too, hope you can get out of the house before you become the victim of an unfortunate accident. If you don't, then you lose by default. If you pass, well then I guess we'll meet again soon._

_BB. _

Her eyes widened at the meaning of the mysterious person's words, and then looked at L. His jaw was locked, his eyes flashing from anger to fear in a matter of seconds. "We need to get out." he whispered heatedly. _Is BB truly back? Or does it stand for something else?! Sixty-two percent chance it's not Beyond, but it's someone else close to her. Who would have the initials of BB?_

"Where'd Ryuuk go, Snafu?!" Antigone looked around, not caring if Scorchio heard her.

"He left after they let you in," he blinked. "You might wanna run now."

Scorchio was right behind her, shotgun in hand and pointing the barrel at the side of her head, "Never make BB angry." he hissed.

She knocked his legs out from under him, causing his jaw to make contact with the ground. She took off running before he hit the floor.

If only it was that easy. Tito was blocking the exit, dagger in each hand.

She groaned and grabbed the first thing she could find, not thinking twice about what it was. Just her luck, it was a pair of iron clubs. After giving them a twirl, she charged toward him. After a few sharp cracks and two clashes of the weapons, Tito was out like a light. She grabbed the two daggers and clutched them tightly as another pair of feet pounded toward her. "Scorch I know it's you! Don't make me think I won't attack you!"

A maniacal smile spread over his face as he took a bottle of vodka out of one of the dusty cabinets and spilled it out all of the room, splashing it against the walls and all over the room.

L realized what he was going to do. He was going to light the place on fire and kill everyone inside it! "A, you've gotta run! He's gonna light up the place!" in a haste, he grabbed her hand and literally dragged her outside.

It was as if everything went in slow motion, Tito and her fighting, Scorchio dousing the room in vodka, L dragging her out of harm's way. The building violently going up in flames was what made everything speed up by at least three times through Antigone's eyes.

"Scorchio… Tito…" tears clouded her eyes, her head resting on L's chest as she fought back tears.

"It's alright, A, it's alright…" he breathed as he held onto her protectively.

Snafu looked from the hood of her car, a pained expression over his face. _Is it that hard to lose a friend to death? _

Light, not having many friends in his life, had not experienced such a terrible thing. Instead he thought of the scene displayed upon him as he killing another criminal, and her and L as one of the families that were torn by his killings. He knew that it was another Kira doing this, the letter explained it all to him.

His mind was made up, "Antigone."

"What do you want?" she snapped, glaring daggers in his direction.

"Working with L again might be the hardest thing I'll ever have to do," he grimaced. "And I know seeing you in danger is something I should want, but…" he sighed, "I'll work with him to bring this murderer to justice. BB will not prevail, no matter what. Not to mention I will lose my Death Note _again, _but I think BB will be more of a bastard than you are a bitch." he chuckled nervously.

A smile lit up A's face as the two former rivals shook hands in a truce, "Game on then." she wiped the tears from her face as L smiled down at her.

"BB left another note." he mentioned, another black piece of parchment in his hand.

_Antigone and Snafu:_

_Congrats, you've made it this far. But the game is just more challenging from here. May your series of unfortunate events begin, starting with Misfortune by the Millions. I'm keeping you on your tippy-toes, no? I can just imagine the cogs turning in your head and your lips tightening into a frown as you over to Snafu and wonder what will happen. Not to mention your little Life Shifter, L, trying to figure out every tiny detail. _

_BB_

She grimaced and got into the car as swiftly as she could, "Get in."

"Where are we going?" L raised an eyebrow as he got in while Snafu began to stretch his wings in preparation to fly.

"England." she smirked, "First, we need to get our money's worth out of this Corvette. How much are they usually? Fifty thousand?"

"Sixty thousand." he corrected her.

"And… I think we might need to buy ourselves a flash drive. Something tells me Dad won't be holding onto those files much longer."

…

The man in the black coat grinned mischievously from under his hood. "It's all going to plan, Ryuuk. Good work." he threw the Shinigami a bright red apple from the couch he was lounging on.

"Yeah, yeah." he said as he bit nosily into the fruit, "Where do you think she'll go?"

"Italy I suspect, where Ventous and Jena can help her." he shrugged, "I wonder how she felt when I told her I knew about her precious L?"

"The idea of him being a Life Shifter makes sense. But keep in mind he must wear the bracelet in order for you to kill him." _I wonder how he'll take it when I tell him Antigone is going to England. _Ryuuk chuckled to himself as he tossed the apple core up in the air and let it slide down his throat.

"Oh I'll make sure the bracelet doesn't come off." he laughed as he looked out his hotel room's window. "I'll have to plan a flight to Sicily, then." he chuckled, "BB is always watching you Antigone."

_**BB is NOT Beyond Birthday. The birth and death dates are from the anime, being Mafia Note is based off the alternative ending **_**for **_**the anime. **_


	12. Misfortune by the Millions

_Misfortune by the Millions_

_Everything is broken  
Everything is broken  
Everything is breaking down, breaking down  
Everything is bleeding  
Everything is bleeding  
Everything is breaking down, breaking down_

As they drove back, Antigone shuddered at the thoughts of the New Yoricans' hideout erupting in flames. L looked at her sadly, not able to bring his own dim past to light, but knew the feelings of every emotion. The only reason he did was so he did not have them get in the way of the case, he learned them.

_But A is neither apart of the Kira case nor the LA BB case. _he bit his thumb, She's _the victim now. This "BB" character is threatening her life and everything she stands for. If I were BB, where would I attack next? The main system in Sicily? Or maybe… _"We may want to hurry back. From what BB said, the next occurrence would be a "Misfortune by the Millions." I think he means either attacking the headquarters in Sicily, or attacking the manor."

At hearing his theory, she floored the accelerator and ran three red lights to get back home, her thoughts racing as fast as her heart. _Would BB go so far, and so quickly, to kill my parents and burn the manor alive? _"There must be information on BB, if he wants to burn down the manor or HQ." she concluded, "But maybe he'll go and place a terrorist attack on the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building- That would cost millions upon millions, maybe even billions, of dollars in damages and trying to rebuild. Maybe even the U.S. Mint."

"Maybe a hostage situation?" he raised an eyebrow, "Holding your family hostage using another family friend- perhaps the Cullen's or another close client of yours?"

"Also plausible." Snafu answered over the roaring wind, "Do we have a list of suspects yet, L?"

"No, unfortunately." he sighed, "There's absolutely nothing to work with. We cannot report this as a murder case, because we don't have enough evidence. But, from what I've seen, these are ripped pages of a book- perhaps a journal or diary from the elegance of the paper."

"You think it could be the Death Note's pages?" she worried.

"No, they aren't. The pages of the Death Note are a cream-shaded color, not to mention they have lines like loose leaf paper." the Shinigami shook his head, "This is black, not to mention the message is practically sprawled all over the paper in a rush."

"Alright." she breathed a sigh of relief, "But we're still going to England, I don't think BB is aware of where we'll be going."

"Ryuuk might have told him," L pointed out. "If he did, then BB might try to bomb the plane… or worse, Wammy's."

"And win so easily?" Snafu argued, "It's obvious he wants to stretch out the game until it's practically torturing her. Why else would he try to threaten her? He could have easily written her name down in the notebook while she was at the clubhouse. Keep in mind he's also aware of you too."

"Courtesy of Ryuuk, no doubt." L mumbled. "He said something about spying, if you remember. That we could spy on them and vice versa."

"Well if BB doesn't know where we are and he takes a shot in the dark, he probably won't take a flight to England." Antigone mused, "Snafu, I want you to go find Ryuuk once we land in Manchester. Be discreet, though, and try to find something, _anything, _that can give us more information on this guy. L, you're staying with me and helping me get all the information regarding the Kira, Wammy House, and Light Yagami files." she ran a hand down her shirt and brought back up a tiny SD card, "Use this, it'll hold it all. If there's anything else that could be of help to us, take it also."

Snafu nodded and L took the memory card and slid it into his pocket, "Yes, A."

"We're here. L, you'll also need to book the earliest flight to London while looking through the files."

"Will do."

She left the keys in the ignition, and stepped out, "Keep the bracelet on." then she broke out into a jog, quickly turning into a full-out run.

L simply nodded as they literally ran up the driveway and burst through the door.

Antigone's mother was in the parlor, reading, until the bursting of the door and said door slamming shut interrupted her, "Oh, Antigone-!"

"Not right now, Mom!" she shouted back as they, meaning her and Snafu, climbed the stairs at brisk pace.

"Who's-?"

"This is David, he's helping me out. Now I'm a little busy, so if you don't mind!" she slammed her bedroom door shut, obviously annoyed with her mother being completely oblivious to the situation.

"Okay…?" she raised an eyebrow, then looking over at "David," "Do you know what you need to do?"

"Yes, thank you, Mrs. Jones." he nodded, turned on his heels, and jogged off to the Mafia leader's office.

…

_Entropy and Aching  
Where have we been aiming?  
Everything is fading out, fading out  
We are the faded, splitted, and sedated  
Everything is fading out, fading out_

Antigone grabbed her dark purple duffel and began to throw everything she would need into it. The Death Note, her iPod, her laptop, and her Converse especially. "Snafu, grab anything out of the closet and hurry!"

"Alright." he nodded, in a spilt second he came back with an armful of shirts, jackets, and pants, all folded neatly and placed hastily into the giant compartment.

"Keep doing that, I'll be right back." she raced into the bathroom and grabbed her makeup, her toothpaste, and her shampoos. _Thank God the liquid restrictions were lifted so quickly. _she mused.

"Here, all of your clothes are packed." he replied as she dumped her toiletries into the side compartments, "Do you think he's done?"

"Probably not." she shook her head as she threw on the leather jacket that was resting on her desk chair, "C'mon, we'll help." she slung the duffle over her shoulder, almost forgetting the most important thing, "Passport," she mumbled as she rummaged through the top drawer, until she found her forged - but completely believable - passport. "We'll be in need of using this, let's go." she pushed the door open and raced down the stairs, again, until she ran into her father in the hallway.

"Running away from home?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, something like that." she said hastily as she kissed him on the cheek, "I love you!"

"The exit's that way?" he pointed behind her.

"I know, but something of mine is in your office, I kinda-"

"I've got it, let's GO!" L shouted as he slid the SD card into his pocket.

"Who the hell are you?"

"David, it's nice to meet you too." he said with false sincerity, "We've got to get going." he gripped Antigone's upper arm, "Goodbye, Mr. Jones." he began to lead her out of the house until her father guarded the door.

"What do you want with my daughter?" he snarled, his hands balled into fists.

"Dad, he's helping me. I'm going to London to help in our UK HQ." she explained easily, her lies completely plausible, "Don't worry." _Please pray Dad, _"I'll be fine." _you might never see me again, _"I love you!" _please say you love me too, Daddy._

He sighed and hugged his little girl, "I love you, be careful."

"I will." she tried to say, but it all came out a blubbering mess of tears.

"Hey, don't cry." he laughed softly, wiping the tears from her eyes, "I'll visit you soon, alright?"

"Alright." she sniffed.

"Love you too." he smiled as he kissed her forehead.

She smiled weakly, kissed her mother on the cheek, and then raised an eyebrow of her own, "Where's Paulie?"

"He's off with his girlfriend, some hotel out in Boston." her mother smiled sadly, "We'll give him the news."

_Suspect number one, _the three thought spitefully.

"Alright… bye!" she waved and smiled halfheartedly as she walked out the door, a small sigh escaped her lips, "I'll miss them."

"We know, A." L smiled sadly, "We know."

"Hey, another note!" Snafu pointed to the hood of her car, "Here."

She took the note from his fingers and scanned the sheet.

_Antigone and L:_

_I promised a misfortune, did I not? I fear this misfortune will not come as quickly and painlessly as the last. Ah, I can only imagine the look on your faces when you see what I have done. That is all the clues I shall give. Ah, one more thing, and this is a message to L. _

_I know that you're L Lawliet, so don't even try lying if we ever meet. I've seen your picture millions of times through other people's thoughts and ideas. Do not grow too attached to her; she's only in this for her life. If you sacrifice yourself for her… I might have a loophole in my terms and I'll kill you both. I will not hesitate to do so._

_-BB_

_We pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians  
Watching for our sky to get torn apart  
You are broken, You are bitter  
You're the problem, You're the politicians  
Watching for our sky to get torn apart_

A's jaw was set in a tight line, her eyes flashing anger and fear towards BB, "Bastard," she spat. "You son of a _bitch!" _she threw the paper up in the air and fired at it a few times while airborne.

"What did it say?" Snafu kneeled down to see if he could make what it said.

"He knows who L truly is," she snarled. "Ryuuk, damn you to Hell!" she shouted, kicking a nearby tree in anger.

"Great," L mumbled under his breath. "We need to hurry, he only knows what'll happen next." he meaning Ryuuk.

Antigone nodded, threw her belongings into the trunk, and sped off to JFK at the accelerator's limit. "I was supposed to leave tomorrow anyhow. What difference will it make?"

…

BB grimaced, "I wish he would have tried to stop them, too bad Paulie already instructed him to get rid of her." his sharp, amethyst eyes glowing in the light of the table lamp.

"What does Paulie mean to you anyhow?" Ryuuk raised an eyebrow, "He's nothing of importance."

"Paulie is clearly just a puppet in this game, like L." he assured the Shinigami, but then mused, "A very important one at that."

A shriek and gunshots followed, followed by a muffled sound as something was pulled up off the floor and onto some sort of fabric.

"We got it." Paulie grimaced, handing a white piece of paper to BB.

"Very good." he smirked, "I take it that it wasn't too hard to get the information out of her?"

"Corinne was very cooperative." the younger man grinned in return.

"Then let us begin the first chapter of this series of unfortunate events." his eyes flickered brightly with amusement, "Every story has its beginning… this shall be Antigone's." he pocketed the paper into the inner breast pocket of his suit jacket.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her, we made a deal!" he snarled. He was all for BB's plan, as long as Antigone wasn't hurt in the process. That was their pact, it was legally bound too.

"Did I say anything about hurting your dear sister?" BB asked coyly, a smirk smearing his lips.

"You said the loser dies, I think that includes hurting her!" the younger man retorted, "Or do you plan to just bluff to get the Death Note out of her?"

"Not only that… but Snafu and L too." he grinned evilly, "Both are bound to her by it. If it's given up, so are they. I know working L against her will tear her up from the inside out, not to mention he will try his hardest to do something drastic. Like take his life. That'll be the dotted line on her death warrant."

Paulie was becoming frustrated, he didn't want her dead. He just wanted to her out of the family! "I thought-"

"You'll get used to the idea of her being out of the picture entirely sooner than you think." BB replied nonchalantly.

His lips set in a straight line, Paulie nodded and turned on his heel to the phone, "I'd like to report an accident, please." he said somberly.

_We are broken, we are bitter  
We're the problem, we're the politicians  
Watching for our sky to get torn apart  
C'mon and break me_

…

Antigone sighed as they went through customs, her bags being checked for everything and anything.

The security guard raised an eyebrow at the Death Note in her compartment, "Miss, what is this implied as? Some sick joke?"

"You could say it like that." she shrugged, "My friend Ratio gave it to me."

"It's clever of her, Light-kun, to move around the letters of your name to throw them off." L murmured as they waited on the other side, completely unseen because of their status. He had taken the bracelet off while they were in the elevator.

"Why would this Ratio character do that? It's a capital offence here!"

"If anything it would be in Japan." she replied, "Are we done here?"

"Let me check." he grabbed a pair of tongs, and lifted the notebook up in the air.

_Smart move, _she chuckled under her breath.

He flipped it over so he could see all the pages, not one page had writing. From what he saw at least, "I guess it was a sick joke… my apologies, go right in."

She nodded her thanks and walked on, until being stopped to check her person for any metallic items. She groaned as the old man waved the metal detector over her body, in some places she wasn't sure were needed to be checked.

"Remove the jacket, missy." his toothy grin completely out of line for this type of work. He looked more like a pedophile than a security guard.

"Yeah, sure." she slid the jacket off her shoulders, "It's got my phone, my car keys, and my iPod."

This was a slight lie. Her handgun was in there, but it would go unnoticed. It was made of titanium, the lightest gun there could possibly be. It still held the same amount of power as a regular handgun, but it wasn't noticeable on the scanner _because _of its light materials and extra clothing surrounding it.

"Junior said there was an iPod in your suitcase too. What's that supposed to mean? Are ye hiding something from us?" he pried.

"One of them is for my cousin, he's getting the one in the duffle." she shrugged.

"Pink?"

"He's gay." she snapped, "What is this, the third degree?!" she was beginning to become extremely angry with the man.

"My apologies, go right on ahead, _Miss._" he snarled, his arm extended to the exit.

She growled, so loud the onlookers heard and began to worry if she was rabid, as she snatched up her bag and jacket and cursed under her breath in various languages, "Anta no baka…" she hissed, causing a few young, Japanese men to laugh out loud and start conversing on her choice of words.

"You have quite a way with words, A." L smirked, "You know what "anta no baka" means, right?"

"Fucking idiot, I know." she replied easily, as if the snap-up had never happened.

Snafu grinned a little, "I wonder sometimes if you were dropped on your parents' doorstep as a babe. You're nothing like them, from what I saw."

"My dad and I have the same looks and the same mind; we're always on the same page. It's like we can read each other's thoughts." she chuckled, "My mother is like my best friend, we do everything girly. I've kinda lost touch with her over the past few weeks, but she doesn't seem to mind."

"You're growing up." L responded, "She's happy you're not depending on her so much."

"I know she misses it though, I see it in her eyes. They're dull now," she sighed. "I could've sworn her eyes were red when we walked in. Probably because of my eviction that was supposed to be tomorrow."

"Let's get you on the plane, shall we?" Snafu raised an eyebrow as they walked to the monorail that was to take them across the airport to the concourse.

"We shall, _Light-kun._" she grinned as she stepped into the car and took a window seat in the back as the other passengers filled in, two on her right and the rest standing and holding onto the handrails. (A/N: This is how a monorail at the airport really works… I should know XD. Although there are seats on each side, vertically, of the car.)

"Light-kun" rolled his eyes as he leaned on the door and looked out the window, but he didn't let neither Antigone nor L see the small smile on his face, "Whatever you say, Antigone."

…

As they stepped off the monorail, the feedback of the loudspeakers screeched to life.

A groan and clapping of hands over ears followed until a gruff voice came over the intercom, "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for this announcement, but please look to the nearest television set. The audio shall be played over the intercom. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Head of the U.S. Mint Corrine Gonzalez was murdered this morning in the Peabody Hotel outside of Manhattan, New York. Gonzalez had three shots to the chest and had an extremely high amount of drugs in her system at the time of death. The man who called, who would like to stay anonymous, said she had gotten high and put the gun to his head, but then shot herself instead. The man is under suspect of the murder, and his counterpart also fled the scene. The suspect said his counterpart may have fled the country to Italy, or now, possibly, Switzerland. All flights out of JFK and La Guardia have been canceled and all passports have been frozen for the moment in hopes that they shall find the murderer in the concourse or trying to check in."

Antigone groaned along with the other passengers. Not only because of the extremely long delay, but also from her slight stupidity, _How come I didn't catch it before?! _"Paulie's involvement has been instated, hasn't it?"

"I'm afraid so," L replied nonchalantly. "He was out at a hotel with his "girlfriend" and never said when they were coming back; let alone which hotel they were staying at. I'd say he was the anonymous caller, if he was the counterpart we would've seen him by now. Do you both agree?" he looked over at Snafu.

He nodded, his hair falling over his eyes, "Seems plausible enough for my taste. Seems you haven't lost your touch, Lawliet." he said bitterly, arms crossed and eyes averted from the man.

L's lips set in a straight line, "So-"

"Shush!" Antigone hissed, "And listen, both of you!" she chastised them, almost as if she were their mother and trying to get the two to share a new toy.

"We apologize for the inconvenience, please remain calm and try to make yourself comfortable-" the voice was cut off completely by the uproar of the now livid passengers, all shouting in various languages. And oddly enough, all three knew what they were all saying.

"I want my money back!" one woman shouted in German.

"Son of a bitch!" a teenaged boy yelled in Spanish.

More strings of curses flowed from the mouths of the other men, women, and even some children. Antigone and the two specters were finally able to find a nice place to lie on, two empty chairs close to the terminal they were to depart from. She sprawled out over them, using her duffle as a pillow.

L had decided to put the bracelet on for the greater good; no one would notice him appear out of thin air. And even if they did, they'd probably think they'd need to get their vision checked again.

He lifted the half-conscious young woman into his lap and saw her curl up against him, welcoming his warmth. He smiled sadly as he wrapped his lanky-appearing arms around her hourglass frame. "I've got you, A."

It felt weird, to say the least, to have his legs stretched out over the seat, instead of his traditional huddle. Not to mention having someone that could be young enough to be your _granddaughter _lying in your arms.

She smiled lazily at his touch, his arms felt strong and well built around her.

Snafu rolled his eyes, "Since when have you been interested in physical contact, L?"

"She makes me feel… different, I must admit, Light-kun." he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"How so?"

"She knows so much, yet she's still so incompetent to the world around her. I was never like that; I can also reason that you were never like Antigone either."

"This is true." he nodded solemnly, "How is she incompetent, though?"

"Incompetent towards her feelings, she thinks on her feet. The first thing she feels just flies out of her at the speed of a bullet." he sighed, running his fingers through her hair absentmindedly, "She needs to control those emotions, if she wants to become a better marksman- in more ways than one."

"Ah, as in being able to control her emotions and not let them get in the way of these events. To show no weakness to BB?"

"Exactly." he nodded, a grim smile on his face, "We could've made a great team, you and I, Light-kun."

The feeling of guilt punched the former Kira in the stomach, harshly at that. "Too bad, think of it this way: If I never killed you, you never would've become a Guardian Angel. And if you never became one, you would've never met Antigone." he shrugged, a small smile on his face, "Everything happens for a reason, right?"

"Then I guess, in some psychopathic way, I should thank you." L murmured, almost reluctantly, "Thank you, Light-kun."

"For killing you?" he laughed wryly, "Yes you should definitely thank me for ending your life."

"No, for bringing me to A." his smiled matched the other specter's laugh, "Who knows what may have happened if she-"

"A bombing has been executed on the U.S. Mint, twenty people were killed and millions upon millions of dollars have been destroyed. All the computers have been hacked and the designs for the currency are unattainable. The mint shall be closed until further notice, and police are advising people to hold onto their money and not do anything rash with it. Banks are instructing their customers by text and automated calls to invest all checks and money immediately.

All flights coming in and going out of the country have been cancelled, along with frozen passports on everyone. We will keep you posted as the story breaks." the intercom blared, causing the concourse to become eerily quiet as everyone listened intently for a moment.

Then the uproars began again, this time louder and more vulgar than previous riots.

L sighed and rested his head on Antigone's crown, "Will it ever end?"

"I think that's what BB meant when he said "Misfortune by the millions," L." Antigone mumbled, it was almost incoherent to anyone that didn't speak English as a first language.

A flight attendant came up to them, an obviously fake, caring smile over the excessive makeup on her face, "Can I get you two anything? A blanket, pillows, some water?"

"A blanket would be nice, thank you." he nodded curtly as he readjusted Antigone in his arms.

"Is she your sister? How sweet of you!" she gushed, noticing the carefulness of his actions.

"She's a friend of mine, I just don't want her uncomfortable." he replied as the flight attendant walked away in a fit of giggles.

He knew why people would think they were related. If someone walked up to them while they were asleep, he/she would think they were twins from their facial appearance. But, it was the eyes and the attitude that made them so different, not to mention their different body shapes. L was lithe as a gymnast, not to mention weighing in at only one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. Antigone weighed about ten pounds more dry, meaning she was healthy. She, too, was lithe, but not as flexible as him. The heights were different too, L had a good ten inches on her. If he wanted to kiss her, he would have to lean down while she stood on the tops of her toes.

_Do I even want to kiss her? _he pondered as he looked over her once more. Her lips were parted, she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. _I'm not surprised, I really _must _teach her how to stay up after a shocking turn of events. _he concluded, _Or she'll pass out on me every time! _he smiled sadly as the other people around him lay on the ground, using their luggage as pillows and small beds for their kids to sleep on, or in some cases in.

He looked over at the gigantic digital clock on the television: Quarter to noon. _This is gonna take a while._ He glanced over at Snafu and nodded his head to an abandoned cup of Starbucks, "You want it, _Snafu_?"

He picked up the cup and nodded his thanks, "I'd rather you two call me Light." he replied after tossing the cup over his shoulder, causing an older man to be sprinkled with lukewarm mocha.

"Really?" L raised an eyebrow.

"…Yeah." he smiled halfheartedly, "No honorific, no "Snafu", …Just Light."

"Perfect… _Light_." the older man smiled wryly, it was as if an old friend had come to pay a visit… how long that visit would last, the two men did not know. "Why are you trying to make amends, Light?"

"If you did not notice: If Antigone dies, the Death Note is given to BB. When _he _gets the notebook, _I _have to follow him around because I'm the former Shinigami owner. _You _will also have to because you look after it and try to talk the owner out of writing in it." Light concluded.

"You're saying we should try to work together now and try to take down BB… than work together and be forced to do everything he says?"

"Exactly," he nodded, "although," he sighed, running his pianist fingers through Antigone's thick, black hair. "I'd hate to see something happen to Antigone, she did nothing wrong."

He knew deep down he shouldn't be so mean to her. But it was in his nature to try and act dominant at all times, old habits die hard. _Maybe it's time to break these stupid habits and just… _let go.

"Says the one who dropped it in the first place." L mumbled harshly.

His amber eyes snapped back at him and he began to explain, animatedly, what had happened to cause them to appear in her life.

After hearing the entire story, in great detail, he smiled, "Thank you, again, Light. Maybe I do have it easier than you, sometimes." he leaned back and held onto Antigone protectively, her head resting comfortably on his chest as a pillow.

"That must've been an ego boost." he mumbled.

L smirked as he closed his eyes, "Meaning an ego deflation for you, everyone wins."

Light frowned but made no remark, he was really going to try to make a compromise with his former enemy… for the sake of both of them… not to mention Antigone.

_I am broken, I am bitterI'm the problem, I'm the politicianWatching for my sky to get torn apart_

_Definitely for Antigone. _


	13. V in the Making

_V in the Making. _

L smiled fondly as the young Jones girl wriggled in his arms, trying to get comfortable once more. They had been in this position for about ten and a half hours now, still no lift on the frozen passports nor canceled flights. People had left the concourse and went to check in at the built-in Hyatt Hotel. Some even called their travel agent and asked if it were possible to book them on a train or get them into a cruise liner at the last minute.

The older man didn't seem to mind, he enjoyed looking after his A in comfortable silence. It was one of the times where he could relish in her looks.

_My A? _he raised an eyebrow as Light came back over from the departure board, shaking his head in saying "We're still stuck here, sorry."

"Is she still asleep?" he kneeled down to Antigone's current height and looked at her with curiosity, "I could've sworn she might have woken up by now."

"If she's tired, let her sleep." L replied, "We have a huge task ahead of us, maybe it'd be best if we all tried to rest up."

"That includes you," Light countered, "seriously, I never saw you sleep when we were working together."

"Because I was asleep when you were, most of the time, at least." he said coolly. This was true; he caught at least a fifteen minute nap while his former suspect was out cold from lack of sleep.

"Thanks for telling me that." he muttered.

"Well if I told you while we were working you'd refuse to fall asleep with me present. Be glad I'm telling you at all." he snapped.

"Why are you acting like your all high and mighty again? For the glimpse of a second when we were reintroduced… you seemed humane." Light crossed his arms in thought; _Obviously it has something to do with me being back in the picture entirely. He _knew _I was there the whole damn time! He wanted me gone, but not as Kira. As _me.

"I cannot be humane around the man who cost me my life now can I?" he asked coyly.

"You could try!" he replied, "What if you had to act nice to me, for Antigone's sake!"

"She doesn't like you, you are aware of this, yes?" L snorted, his eyes filled with spite.

"Yes, I am not blind of that." he said curtly, his voice clipped.

He hated the fact that Antigone was malicious towards him from the start, but now with her knowing most of the unfortunate past between the two genii, she hated his guts more than beforehand. His logical side kept telling him it was natural and that he shouldn't take it so seriously. His egotistical side, however, wanted to torment her as much as she could take before breaking.

"Ngh…" a mumble broke the tension-thickened silence.

It was Antigone, still half conscious and talking into L's lap, "Anything new…?" she asked groggily.

"No, sorry, A," L smiled sadly. "Pleasant sleep?"

"Somewhat," she sighed as she stood and stretched, standing on her toes and bending over from the waist down. "I heard an argument brewing, I automatically wake up. It's like programmed into me now." she stifled a yawn.

"Sorry, that was Light's fault." he replied easily as he pulled himself back into his usual sitting position, he bit his thumb to hide the smirk forming over his face.

Light decided on not replying, he knew L would only get pleasure out of him being scorned by Antigone.

"It's alright; I needed to wake up anyhow. If I'm asleep for too long I won't wake up for a while… almost like a coma." she shuddered, "It's like your obsession with coffee, Light. I'm obsessed with sleeping."

"Why might that be?" Light raised an eyebrow at this.

"Sleep is safe, it cannot hurt you physically." L replied, almost a murmur, "Sleep is the only place where Antigone is safe because her life is always in danger… her family's intentions are volatile, even though hers are not. If she has too much of it, it can become deadly to her. It tries to lure her in, to tell her that she will never be harmed and will be far happier. Sleep also shows us our fears, hopes and weaknesses. These are where the terms "dream" and "nightmare" occur."

"Right," she nodded. "Is that why you don't sleep, L? Something traumatized you in your past?"

"I was what you could call an insomniac," he chuckled, "I usually never slept; if I did it was for a very short period of time. I never slept for the exact opposite reason of yours, Antigone, I had to stay awake. My work was extremely tiring if I did not have the right amount of foods-"

"Which lead to you having so much sugar and sweets, right? They could give you energy?"

"Correct."

"But, why are you so…" she tried to find the correct word without being rude.

"Underweight?" he raised an eyebrow, she nodded, "The brain is a muscle, too, as you know. The brain uses the most energy in my work; if I can supply it with enough sugar and caffeine to stimulate my senses then I can continue working. I have a high metabolism, making it easier for me to stay underweight while using my sweets as a weapon against time."

"Oh, I get it!" she smiled, but then her face changed to a look of confusion, "Hey, L? Have you ever wondered how your body takes a toll on your habits?" she looked over him once, examining him more closely.

"From time to time, yes." he nodded.

"Your spine must be killing you. I remember when we switched that when I tried to straighten up your back was cracking and popping. It felt pretty good but it must be painful for you to be like that all the time."

"I got used to it." he shrugged.

"Oh no you don't!" she wagged a finger, "Lie down on your stomach." she instructed.

"Why should I?"

"You'll see." she said as he lied down, she could see the cogs turning in his head, trying to figure out what she would do.

"Alright, now close your eyes and relax. It'll make this far easier." she whispered in his ear.

"I trust you," he warned as Light chuckled.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, this is supposed to feel good." she assured him as she stood over him and wiggled her hands a little, her warms hands reached his shoulders and began to rub sensually into them.

"Haah…" L groaned, the popping of air beginning in his shoulders, "What are you- Ooh!" he gasped, "That felt good…"

"Ever had a massage before?" she asked sweetly.

"No,"

"No wonder you have so many knots, L." she grunted, working harder into his shoulders and back, "Just enjoy it."

"Haah… A, that feels _so good._" he moaned, his eyes fluttering closed with every snap.

"It should." she whispered. "What did I tell you?"

"Oh…" he groaned in pain this time. He was about to tell her to stop until the pleasure had begun again.

She worked her way down, cracks and snaps eliciting from his body as she went. She reached his lower back, a small smirk on her lips. Her dainty fingers worked up and down the worst part of his body, kneading him carefully in fear he would be to feel pain, but also forcefully to get rid of the knots.

"Ugh…" Light grimaced, "A shiatsu massage would work better on him, but it'd be impossible for you."

"Why would that be?" she grunted as L twitched again from the pleasure, and some pain, wracking throughout him.

"You massage his pressure points. It helps with everything he has: insomnia, migraines, depression, back pain…"

L looked up, a unpleasant glare set straight for him, "Who said I had depression or back pain- arch!" he was caught off by Antigone pushing his head back down into the leather-based seat and resumed working. "You know that actually hurt, A." he said, but it was slightly muffled.

"Sorry," she rolled her eyes, obviously aware of what he had said, "but I really think we should get all the kinks out of your back…"

_Perhaps you could help with the kinks in my pants. _L thought, burying his face farther into the seat, embarrassed at the thought.

_Gods, wherever you are, _please _send me back! I do not need this type of distraction! Give me another assignment, let me look at her from a distance just don't-!_

"Excuse me? Your pillow and blanket are here." a skinny, cheesy looking, flight attendant smiled kindly as she handed them to Antigone, "We realized, after looking through our boarding passes, that you and Mr. …"

L frowned, his prayer/plead coming to a dead end. "Just call me Ryuuzaki," a genuine smile upon his lips as he sat up straight, "Rue Ryuuzaki at your service, Miss."

Antigone shot him a look, _First it was David, now Rue Ryuuzaki? Rue Ryuuzaki… he couldn't have made it up on the spot!_

"He's made other ridiculous names too," Light chuckled. "When we met at the college, he was named "Ryuoga Hediekei", in the task force he was "Ryuuzaki"."

"O-oh!" smiled and her cover-up failed, Antigone could see the red tint in her cheeks, "From what we saw in your boarding passes, you are flying first class. Would you like to come to the lounge, it's far less crowded?"

"Yes, please." he nodded, stood, and smiled reassuringly at A, "Come, Antigone, we're leaving." and with that, the flight attendant lead them to the Green Room, Continental Airlines' lounge area.

After thanking the flight attendant and taking their seats, Antigone crawled back into L's arms, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all. To be honest, I like this type of physical contact with you." he grinned.

Her makeup hid the blush creeping into her cheeks, "S-so do I…" _Damn stuttering! _"So… _Ryuuzaki?"_

"That was another alias of mine while working as L. Beyond Birthday used it first to trick my partner, Naomi, into working with him. When I went up to her, she attacked me. As I walked away she asked who I was and I replied, "Ryuuzaki." It has stuck with me ever since."

"Ah," she nodded, "Wouldn't anyone figure out who you were now?"

"I highly doubt anyone would try to publish any media attention about me," he shrugged. "If anything, Near would teach the Wammy students about me. Those children hide secrets and keep the close to their hearts, never say anything."

"Really?"

"Near, Mello, Roger, and Watari were the only ones who knew my true name while I was alive… Except for that sneaky Shinigami, Rem." he glared over his shoulder at Light, who was "studying the décor" while they conversed.

"All from Wammy's house. They took it to the grave?"

"Just about, keep in mind Near is alive and in good health." L chuckled as his arms wound like clockwork around her body, "Are you well, Antigone?"

"I suppose, why?" she looked into his eyes, "What are you trying to get across?"

"This is just for your well-being. You see, in case we meet up with anyone from the Mafia… we must give you an alias and change your physical identity." he ran his fingers through her ebony locks, "I think you would make a beautiful auburn… Perhaps darker than Light's hair, no?"

"Perhaps…" she yawned, not paying much attention to his thoughts.

"And blue eyes, maybe… very dark though…"

"Mm hmm," she mumbled, "V."

"V?"

"For Vendetta…" she smiled sleepily, "Now let me sleep, you stupid panda…" she poked him in the chest.

"The stupid panda will let you sleep if you do one thing." he smiled wickedly.

"And that would be?" she raised an eyebrow, her eyes drooping every other second.

"Give me a goodnight kiss." he said casually, despite his mind set into overdrive. _You fool! You idiot! What have you done?! Think for a moment before you talk, as Watari put it! Now she'll never-_

His inner thoughts were silenced by something soft pressed against his lips gingerly, or perhaps sleepily. He realized it was Antigone's lips against his own, _kissing him. _

He looked at her lidded golden eyes, closing ever so slightly every passing moment in pure bliss. He returned the kiss cautiously, not sure what to do or how to react to her actions.

She opened her mouth and kissed him again, this time with more confidence.

He eagerly obliged, his eyes closing and letting his left-for-dead hormones take over. He ran a hand through her hair and sat her up properly, the other hand steadying her by holding her from the waist up.

He was in pure bliss, but then something came running back to him. _Take off the bracelet… and you're gone. _the figment snickered, _Don't fall in love with her now, Lawliet. Imagine it: Her heart being broken by someone who really never had one! _the demonic creature howled with laughter. _It's far too ironic! _

He squeezed his eyes shut, tighter than before. He pulled away, trying to hide the tear droplets forming in his eyes. "You should try to get some sleep now, Antigone."

She looked at him, completely confused, but agreed after a moment of silence and shock, "Alright…" she slid out of his grasp and lay on the couch like the other first classmen and women. "Goodnight, L."

"Goodbye, A." he whispered sadly, knowing it'd be the last time he could say her name, "And hello… V."


	14. All the Way to Timbuktu

_All the Way to Timbuktu_

_L breathed softly as he tried to focus on contacting Near, onyx eyes snapped shut and trying to search through the many minds at Whammy's for the eldest's. _

"_L?" Near's voice called softly, almost worriedly, "How are you?"_

"_Fine my friend." he replied, a soft chuckle to assure the younger man, "I just wanted to alert you that we are coming to the UK, but have been delayed."_

"_That's wonderful!" he replied happily, "I take it is because of the bombing on the U.S. Mint?"_

"_Precisely."_

"_When you mean by "we", who else is coming?"_

"_Well… Besides Antigone and I, Light shall be accompanying us as well. Involuntarily, might I add." _

"_He's her Shinigami, isn't he?" he scowled. _

"_Yes, I am afraid so, Nate."_

_Near laughed hoarsely, "No one even remembers Nate River, they all remember N and Near." _

"_That's because they're all supposedly dead." L sighed sadly, "Any children that could possibly success you?"_

"_A nineteen year-old boy, he has flaming red hair. Been here since he was five. His syllable is "G", standing for Graduation." _

"_And his real name?"_

"_I cannot remember it off the top of my head, unfortunately." his voiced etched with disdain in himself. "But he sometimes goes by the Italian translation "Scala"." _

"_Hmmm… Interesting enough."_

"_Yes, there is also a girl I'm interested in as well to take over my place. Found her wandering around when she was seven. Her name is Z. She has brown hair with blonde streaks." _

"_True name?"_

"_It means gypsy girl, that's all that I remember. She's shy of her sixteenth year."_

"_Any talents or interests?"_

"_G likes books, any type. He has a photographic memory. Top student because of it. Z… she likes fire. Always plays with it, she makes it dance and it interests all the other children. I have even drawn away from my office to see her performances. Never burns anything, not even herself." _

"_What ranking is she?"_

"_Dead last, actually. She doesn't want anything to do with it, no matter how smart I keep telling her she is."_

"_Sounds like Matt." L chuckled._

"_Oh yes, believe me," Near laughed at this. "Even though she plays with fire, she has never smoked." his chuckles died down, "What about your assignment, Antigone, is it?"_

"_That's what I wanted to talk to you about: I want to look after her in the UK, but I want you to let her into Wammy's."_

"_How smart is she?" _

_He ignored the question and proceeded, "She's eighteen, I know that's very old for our tastes, but we need to keep her safe. She's incredibly bright and clever. She'll get along fine with the others. She is also an excellent marksman, along with a computer hacker."_

_He obviously paid no attention to the slip-up, "What does she look like?"_

"_She resembles me in many ways."_

"_Explain, please."_

"_She's thin, but healthily so. Her skin is ivory, flawless as well. Her hair is black, but it has an ebony tint to it usually. Her eyes… are freakishly like Light-kun's."_

"_Ah, I see" the younger man chuckled, "Anything else?"_

"_Former family member of the Mafia. Her full name is Antigone Marie Jones. Daughter of Brennan Levi Gordon and Margaret Rose Intaglio." _

"_Brennan Levi Gordon is no more, though." _

"_He's still alive, under the alias of Brendan Lee Jones." _

"_Remarkable…" he murmured, "How is she formerly a Jones?"_

"_She has been disowned by her brother, saying that she wasn't safe. She doesn't have the heart to murder someone as apart of tradition in the initiation."_

"_Yet she holds a Death Note?"_

"_Precisely." _

"_That, too, is ironic. You have talked me into it, L, I'll allow her to stay with us. Would you like for me to bring in the jet?"_

"_That is your call; I shall be up all night in Continental Airlines' Green Room, looking after Antigone."_

"_Does she have an alias yet?"_

"_V for Vendetta." _

"_Vendetta meaning feud, correct?"_

"_Yes, more like a blood feud between families, in her case."_

"_I shall see you in a few hours then," he could see the smile in Near's voice. "Till then, goodbye."_

"_Goodbye, Nate." _

And the conversation ended.

L ran a hand through his hair, which was now sopping wet. _Only downside of mind communicating, you overwork yourself so much you sweat excessively. _he grimaced, "Excuse me, Miss?" he raised a hand over to a middle-aged flight attendant, "May I please have a towel?"

"Sure thing, sweetie." the woman nodded and smiled, genuinely at that, as she walked off to the storage room.

Light returned from his search, "We're still stuck, L." he sighed, sat on the floor, and closed his eyes, like trying to relax within the chaos.

"I just made arrangements with Near while you were out. He may bring the jet in; I told him it was his decision."

"You should have asked him before," he growled. "Or we would be in London right now!"

"Patience is a virtue, Light." L replied coolly, "You do not see Antigone complaining."

"Oh sure, bring in the girl that has been asleep for_ hours." _he snapped.

After waking Antigone up, about four hours ago, and going for something to edible to eat in the concourse - L decided on buying caramel cubes from the nearby candy stand, while Antigone settled on a quarter-pounder with cheese and a medium Coke from the McDonalds next to their departure gate. - she had finally fallen asleep an hour ago on the floor, a cheap airline blanket barely covered her from the neck down.

It was some time in the early morning, they had given up on actually finding out what time it was.

"What are your feelings toward, Antigone, L?" Light looked over at him.

The flight attendant came back with a stack of off-white towels in her hands, "Here you go sweetie." she looked over at the sleeping girl at their feet, eyebrows raised, "Would your sister like a more comfortable place to sleep? At least a pillow?"

"She's not my sister, just a friend." L countered politely, "And yes, to the pillow please. If she sleeps like that any longer and she'll have a stiff neck in the morning."

"Oh yes, I've been in this business long enough to see various cases of sore and stiff bodies." she chuckled, grabbing a pillow from behind her back and handing it to him, "I do not want to wake her by accident, so I'll have you do, alright?"

"Understood," he nodded, a polite smile on his face, "thank you very much."

She smiled again and walked back to the check-in counter to help with keeping coach passengers out of the lounge.

He began to, very gently, lift her head and place the pillow under her, he breathed a sigh of relief as he lay her back down onto the soft material, she hadn't woken.

"You never answered my question, L." Light said hesitantly.

"Antigone is my assignment, nothing more." L sighed, "When she gives up the Death Note and you leave, I leave too. Then I wait until it is dropped again."

"That's your job?"

"Yes, and this is my first task." he chuckled wryly, "Guardian Angels are supposed to linger around the holder, not be in their face constantly. I, obviously, had forgotten that rule when we had met."

"When will you-"

"Truly die?" L snapped, a little annoyed at how nonchalantly Light could ask him something as serious as that, "When your Death Note is destroyed, then I shall be admitted into Heaven."

"Why are you here anyhow?"

"The Gods of Death and Life both agreed that my soul would not rest, that I had to be put at ease before I could go on. They suggested the idea of destroying the thing that killed me."

"Well, your soul won't be at rest for quite some time then." Light smirked, "Because I'm not giving it up."

"It was like déjà vu, just then." L murmured, "Using your conversations with Antigone against me isn't very fair."

"Which reminds me: What is she to you?!" Light all but shrieked at the older man.

"Antigone is… my friend. My first real friend," he smiled fondly at this. _Perhaps something more if I allow it…_

Light felt a pang of guilt in his stomach again. _Light-kun is my first friend. _the words played over in his head, "So I don't count?"

"No, Light." he said, voice clipped with various emotions involving anger.

"Both of you knock it off." Antigone mumbled, "You're annoying me."

L tried not to roll his eyes are her arrogant comment, "My apologies, A. Now try to get some-"

"Too late, I'm awake." she sat Indian style in front of them, "What is it with you two, anyhow?"

"We've had a bitter past." the raven-haired man replied, "Nothing to get so concerned about."

Light nodded at this, "We'll be fine-"

"I don't trust you," she shot a finger in his direction, "I'm only believing L on this one." she frowned.

It took everything serious thought in L's being not to laugh at the expression on other two's faces.

"Excuse me?" someone called, "I'm looking for Antigone Jones?" the middle-aged man was at the desk, playing with a piece of hair between his fingers. He looked formal in his off-white business suit, his silver-shaded hair made him look like a ghost against his albino skin.

L stood, a bright smile appearing as he took a hold of Antigone's hand. "That's Near, Antigone."

She raised an eyebrow, "How old is he again?"

"Sixty-eight or sixty-nine, I cannot recall exactly how old he is." he said in monotone, as he always had. "Nate!"

The man turned around immediately, a smile lighting up his features, "Ryuuzaki!" he pushed past the other passengers and embraced the "younger" man in a hug, "Oh, it's been too long!" he sighed as L released him from the hug.

"Nate, it is my greatest honor to introduce you to Miss Antigone Jones, your newest student at Wammy's House." L smiled proudly at her, an equally pleased smile on Antigone's lips as well.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. River." she nodded.

"Well, then let us embark on our trip back. Your passports are now, officially, unfrozen." the middle-aged man's eyes twinkled in satisfaction.

"Says who?"

"Says Near, the world's two greatest detectives." he chuckled. "Now come along, there is very little time. I'd like to get back before G and Z figure out I took the jet." he began to walk to the departure gate, a crew member nodding respectfully here and there.

"I take it "G" and "Z" were supposed to come with you?" L replied nonchalantly.

"Yes, but then I changed my mind." Nate shrugged, "We need to discuss to many things, they'd just be a bother during that time."

"Where is Wammy's House anyhow?" Light asked. He knew it was somewhere in England, but he never got an exact location out of L.

"All the way in Timbuktu." Antigone rolled her eyes, "Mr. River, do you-?"

"Know about Light's condition? Yes, L informed me." Near nodded, "Antigone, when we get on the plane, I'd like to touch your Death Note. This way we can all converse without any supernatural blockades."

"Yes, sir." she nodded, "Will I be taking any real school-based courses, or will it have to do with my talents?"

"Basically talents, you are a senior in high school, yes?" the foursome stepped into a lavish jet, stocked with a candy bar and coffee machine. "L informed me of Light's fetish for coffee a few days ago, he has been planning this for quite some time."

"How long?" Antigone looked over at L as they sat in the leather, revolving, recliners.

"Since your father left for Italy, actually. L decided to sneak around your house one night and fell upon an e-mail to the president, saying that they would have to meet in Sicily to make a compromise. He, meaning L, decided to have you leave the country and come to the UK… the part with being enrolled in Wammy's was a last minute idea."

"I see…" she mused, a small smile appearing on her face, "Thank you, both of you, for being so kind to me in the short time that you've known me."

"A, it's my job to make sure you are safe." L smiled as he sat in his position on the overly comfortable seat, "Near is here, though, on my behalf to make sure that task is completed."

She smiled and nodded as the pilot announced that they would be taking off soon and to fasten their seat belts.

About five minutes later, the plane was up and everyone was walking around the cabin. Light at the coffee machine, Near working on a puzzle of the London Skyline, and L… he had dosed off from lack of sleep.

Antigone sighed and crawled into L's lap, "L…?"

"Ugh, what are you doing, Antigone?" he raised an eyebrow at their position.

"You're comfortable." she grinned, "But if you want me to get off, I will." she nodded with sincerity and kissed him on the cheek, "Goodnight, Mr. Lawliet." she smirked as she pranced back to her seat.

L growled playfully and reached out for her hand, but miscalculated and grabbed her behind instead.

A squeal emitted from the girl's lips as she wheeled around in disbelief, "You-?!"

"Grabbed your buttocks? Yes." he nodded, "Good night, Antigone." he chuckled.

She nodded and walked over to Near's seat, beginning to ask the man questions.

L couldn't think about what they were conversing about, he was too tired. His inky eyes drooped closed as one last thought played through his head. _Where's BB…? _

…

"I _cannot _believe you!" BB roared at Ryuuk, chucking a candlestick at the Shinigami, "Why didn't you say something?! Where will she be going?!"

The three had set out for Sicily, as planned, and had decided to stay in a hotel for the night before ambushing Antigone and company. That is, until Ryuuk started howling in laughter about "how wrong they were" and "they were far easier to manipulate than Light".

The creepy Shinigami moved out of the candlestick's way and sighed, "Now what did it ever do to you, BB?"

"Quit talking nonsense!" Paulie snapped from his computer chair, typing away furiously from the Mac he was working at on the other side of the motel room. He had taken the liberty of trying to track his sister down, he didn't trust BB to find her. _He said to find her, so that's what I'm doing. If only those two would _shut up!

"If I said something, the game would be over far too easily." Ryuuk grinned, revealing a set of jagged, yellow teeth, "I thought you said you wanted her to beg?"

"Oh I will…" BB's eyes gleamed with anger. "I am not gonna give in to a stupid girl!"

"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about." Paulie snapped.

"One you said that was too nice for her own good." BB replied.

"She can fight, she just can't take away a human's life." he shrugged, "She's nailed me pretty bad in the past. If you put a cardboard cutout of someone she can "kill it" pretty easily."

"It's stationary, big deal. You really think a terrorist will stay in one place so she can cause his death?"

"We have moving targets too, she's mastered those as well." he sighed, _Dad didn't, _doesn't,_ want her to kill for a living. I guess that's one of the perks of being a Daddy's girl. _"I can't do this to her," he shook his head, "I've gotta tell her-" his breathing was cut short by a pencil hitting the pages of BB's Death Note.

"Focus, Paul Daemon," BB snapped, "Or you can be reunited with your dear sister sooner than you think."

"No! No, you will not write down her name, nor mine! We had a deal!" Paulie pointed a finger in the masked man's direction.

BB smirked as he lifted the cloak from his face, "I really hope that I can trust you now, Paulie." he said, his voice full of sincerity as the hood dropped.

Paulie and Ryuuk gaped. A blond haired man, no older than thirty, stood in front of them. He had a heart shaped face and fair complexion, slightly tan but not much. He also removed the cloak he wore, revealing a pair of off-white tight pants and a black tee-shirt with high tops.

"Well, we can put a name to a face now, ne Paulie?" Ryuuk chuckled.

"What will we call you now, oh unmasked BB?" Paulie smirked.

BB returned the expression, "You can just call me BB. I don't trust you with my true name."

"Then I guess the feeling is mutual." he nodded, "I think we should get some sleep."

"You go to bed, I'll try to find her." he replied easily, "Who did you say lived here again?"

"My aunt and uncle, they're second in command and run the Sicily HQ." Paulie raised an eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"

"Seem Ventous Terra Gordon and Jena Naomi King will be no more after this." BB feigned sadness as he flicked a piece of photo paper over to him.

He sighed, "Well, they were never nice to begin with. Do your worst, BB." he lied, holding onto the picture of his Godfather and aunt with all his might. It was the picture of their wedding day. They both looked so happy, _Too bad I had to strike a deal with this… _thing.

He gripped the paper tighter as BB wrote down their names extremely quickly, almost as if it was hurting the murderer as much as it was hurting the sidekick.

Forty seconds later, the phone rang, "Paulie! They're DEAD!" his father shouted into the phone, "I want you to come back NOW, do you hear me?!"

"I'm in Italy right now, I'll go over to the HQ and check it out." he said somberly, "Don't worry, I'll be fine." he smiled sadly.

"I'll let you take over the HQ then. Try to avenge Ventous and Jena's deaths. Do you accept?"

"Of course, Dad." he said, completely serious.

"Make me proud, son." and with that, the phone clicked dead.

Paulie glanced over at BB and tossed him his bag, "We're going to HQ. Ryuuk, dispose of the bodies, we'll have them cremated."

"Where are we going?" Ryuuk took a chunk out of his apple.

"The HQ, come on." he replied over his shoulder.

"I'll be out in a second." BB called, and then looked over at Ryuuk with a maniacal grin, "It's all going to plan…"

"When do I get to tell him?" Ryuuk chortled.

"After we have the Mafia under our thumb, I promise." he looked up at Ryuuk, "I want them."

"What?"

He chuckled, "What BB had… what made him so special…"

"You sure?"

"I don't know Mr. Jones' real name." the smile widened, "We'll need it in case things get hairy…"

"Understood."

"Until then, as Howie would put it: No deal." he grinned as he threw another in apple in the crazed Shinigami's direction.

…

A boy looked up from his book on physics, a look of confusion on his face. His bright blue eyes weren't bloodshot, despite reading by the dim lighting of his personalized library. His flaming red hair stood on end from never brushing it, but was always clean oddly enough. "Zigana!" he called.

A girl with olive skin and brown hair popped her head into the bookshop, as she put it, and sighed, "What do you want, Gaile? I'm busy!"

"Yes I know, working on a fire eating routine." he replied lazily, "Listen, I heard we're getting a new student."

"You're serious? Who?!" her eyes widened as she walked deeper into the redhead's bedroom, trying not to trip over the random books that were sprawled throughout his room.

"It's a girl, and Near went to pick her up. I hear she's from America." he said, a little too annoyed for either genii's tastes.

"Well, I guess there's a contender after your title as the world's greatest detective after all." Zigana smirked as she flicked out a match and a lighter.

"Hey, don't do that! You know how much money I spent buying these?!" he shouted, blowing out the flame quickly.

"Oh yeah, I've seen the receipts." Zigana rolled her eyes, "Listen, don't scare the girl off with your crazy antics. I'd like to keep a friend around here for longer than a month, kay?"

"'Kay," he mimicked, "I don't get girls."

"And I don't get nerds. Later, nerd." she waved and stepped out of his bedroom.

"Later, pyro!" he called.

_I will destroy that kid one of these days. _the two thought with malice as they went back to their work.

"What were you doing, Z?" a young girl, around eight, looked up at her, bright brown eyes filled with wonder.

"Well, D, I had to talk to G about something." Z ruffled her pigtails, "How is the report coming along?"

"Y keeps telling me I'm getting better, but I don't believe her." D said, a little upset.

"Hey, Ms. Y is very sweet, she's helped every kid here. If she says you're improving, you're improving." Z smiled and kissed freckle-faced girl's forehead, "Now, let's get you downstairs and get something to eat."

"OK!" the girl flashed a toothy grin and raced downstairs to the cafeteria.

Zigana sighed, "Little Delilah," she shook her head and grinned, "get back here right now!" she ran downstairs to catch the little livewire.

Gaile grimaced, "This isn't a place to play, this is a place of strict business…"

"G!" Delilah shouted, "We've got your mangas!"

"GIVE IT BACK~!" he whined as he raced downstairs, "YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THOSE ARE?!" _Oh yes, very serious. _


	15. Welcome to Wammy's

_Welcome to Wammy's_

Morning came for the four beings inside the specially designed jet, all were asleep peacefully. Near had found himself asleep on the floor, Light was sitting back in one of the chairs, while L and Antigone lay in each other's arms in the reclining chairs.

"_L?" Antigone groaned, blinking her eyes to adjust to the light. _

"_Yes?" the insomniac's head whirled from lazily gazing out the window to intently waiting on her answer._

"_Can you come over here?" she yawned._

_He stood and leaned over her, "What is it?"_

"_Can you stay over here tonight?" she looked up at him with big, innocent eyes. _

_He blinked his obsidian eyes. _So cute… _he smiled slightly, but then grimaced inwardly, _Leaving her alone would be the best thing to do, I can't possibly-! _"Of course, Antigone." he nodded as he moved her over so he could lie next to her, "Are you all right now?"_

_She nodded into the crook of his neck, "You're comfortable to sleep near…" _

_He draped an arm protectively over her stomach, and sighed. _

Thoughts had been lost in the wave of sleep coming over him and knocking him backwards. The taste of it was still in his mouth as he woke up, _That was a very… pleasant sleep. _L looked over at Antigone, a small smile on his lips, "Antigone, are you awake?"

She groaned and rolled over to face him, "I am now." her eyes fluttered open and blinked rapidly. "Good morning." she yawned, a sleepy smile spreading over her face.

"Good morning to you too." Near stretched to the ceiling before walking over to them, "I take it L is a very comfortable pillow?" he said teasingly.

Her face flushed a bright pink, while L cast the man a warning look.

"You two are so adorable though, I can't help it." Light mimicked Near's voice.

"Nice to see you too, Light." Antigone mumbled, standing up and stretching backwards into a bridge. Her shirt began to ride up while doing so.

L's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of her flat stomach, _A naval piercing? _he smirked,a little silver loop was reflecting off the walls, along with the diamond stud at the top.

"Like it?" she grinned as she came back up and tugged her shirt down again.

He nodded, completely silent, "Yes." _Stupid answer, Mr. Lawliet. _his inner voice hissed.

"My parents don't know." she shrugged, knocking L out of his argument with himself, "I got it done by a friend."

"Scorchio?"

"Actually, it was Nadia, his older sister." she said thoughtfully, "I wonder how she's taking it…" she sighed.

"Please fasten your seatbelts, we are coming in for landing." a robotic voice said calmly over the loudspeaker.

As they slumped back into their seats, L sighed and smiled as he looked out the window, "I really missed it, England I mean."

"It's changed." Near replied easily, "We have a king."

"King…?"

"King Lawliet, actually. In honor of you." he said somberly, "You'd be shocked how famous you truly have become."

L blinked, "Well then… I am flattered, not to mention honored!"

"Now," Near cleared his throat, "Miss Antigone, without further ado, it is my greatest pleasure to say: Welcome to Wammy's." he smiled kindly as they flew over an off-white Victorian styled building.

"That's the house?" she said in awe, "It's gorgeous!" she breathed, "How many kids live in there?!"

"About fifty to sixty children, some as young as three and the oldest is nineteen." Near said confidently, "We have given all of them codenames, some are numbers and some are letters."

"Who is "L" now?" Light chuckled under his breath.

"The letters "L", "M", "N", and "B" have been retired." the albino snapped. "For reasons you _obviously _know about."

Light's mouth snapped shut in shock, a look of a triumph was plastered upon the other three's faces.

L chuckled, a wonderful thought playing through his mind. "I wonder how they'll take to you, Anti-"

"I'm V, remember _L?" _she teased.

"Ah, yes, I apologize… V." he smiled sadly.

As they touched ground, the onyx-eyed man grimaced while the Shinigami blinked in surprise at the sudden contact, the headmaster of Whammy's smiled in content, and his assignment grinned in anticipation.

...

G lifted his head up from his window sill as the jet came in to land, "They're here…" he got up and ran to the side of the banister, "They're here!" he shouted down the spiral staircase.

Z poked her head out from her bedroom, a few flights below, "Master N's back?!"

"With the visitors!" he exclaimed.

Z nodded and began to walk out into the parlor, rapping and kicking doors as she went through the halls, "Master N is back, everyone!" seas of heads popped out of various doors like waves. "We have guests as well, let's make them feel welcome! Got it?!"

The perplexed children nodded and went to go change into their daily attire.

Graduation rushed downstairs, a busted up novel in his hand. "C'mon, we don't have much time!"

The children were all out in the parlor, single filed from a-z and I to XX. "You're the one doesn't have much time, G." Z smirked in triumph.

G frowned and stood next to "F", standing for Fortissimo, "Why doesn't anyone tell me these things anymore?"

The sixteen year old, green-eyed boy frowned, "You hear it, but you just don't pay attention."

He scoffed, until a deep, but gentle, voice filled the room, "Children? I'm back!"

"Master N!" they smiled in recognition as their caretaker walked in from the hangar.

He grinned, "I'd like to introduce you to your newest comrade…" he stepped aside to reveal a girl with pasty skin, dull black hair, and striking brown eyes, "Meet Vendetta."

_This is the girl that is so special? _G smirked as the other children went up to greet her. _Well, Near, you know how to pick them. _

_...  
_

Antigone glanced over at L as they grabbed her duffel out of the luggage compartment, "Do you think they'll like me?"

"They'll enjoy your company," he said reassuringly.

"I know the girls will, the men on the other hand… well, they think of newcomers as challenges. Or in some cases, new toys." Near glanced back at them as they walked into the massive hangar, their footsteps echoing off the barren walls.

L chuckled, "New toys?"

"Yes," he suppressed a grin, "they'll be interested in her for a couple of days, perhaps months or weeks, and then get rid of her."

L's face fell, while Light look amused and Antigone's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, "I don't think I can do this…" she took L's hand and stripped the bracelet off his wrist, stuffing it into her pocket.

He blinked in shock, her response in monotone, "So no one knows what happened to you… Sorry."

Near paid no attention to this and walked through the door, "Children? I'm back!"

A group of children, their ages ranging higher than she expected, squealed, "Master N!" they all stayed in line, however.

"I'd like to introduce you to your newest comrade…" the man stepped aside; Antigone's head was still down, looking at her shoes, "Meet Vendetta."

She looked up and glanced around the room, her face blank. A boy with flaming red hair smirked, almost as if this was a sick joke. Her stare hardened and his face fell. "It's nice to meet you." she smiled halfheartedly, her voice lacking sincerity.

The children went down the line, introducing themselves. She smiled as each one spoke animatedly about themselves and their life at the house.

Then the cocky boy from before spoke, "I'm G, short for Graduation. I also go by the Italian term "Scala". I read excessively, along with a photographic memory. I'm nineteen and soon to be leaving to go into the police force."

"Little late, eh?" a girl with olive skin snickered, causing G to send a glare in her direction.

"Z…" Near shook his head, trying to stifle the laugh that threatened to burst.

"I'm Z!" the girl grinned, "My true name means "Gypsy Girl", that's the only hint I will give! I am G's arch nemesis and obsessed with playing with fire! I'm also in my prime- sweet sixteen!"

Antigone smiled, "It's nice to meet you too… Zigana."

Z blinked in shock, but then a smile broke out over her face, "SOMEONE'S FIGURED OUT MY NAME~!" she pounced on Antigone and knocked her to the floor, "How'd you know?!"

"I'm fluent in many languages." Antigone smiled.

"Well, Vendetta, I think we're gonna be great friends!" Zigana grinned, helping the older girl to her feet.

L blinked and looked over at Light, "She didn't-?"

"No." he nodded, "She didn't make the eye deal."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness…" _I could only imagine how… angry and disappointed in her I'd be if she made the deal. But her eyes would have flickered red, so I would have noticed… I mustn't deduce so much… _he groaned.

"Well, let me show you your new room, V." Near coughed, "You can go back to your activities now." he smiled as he left the room, Antigone and her specters trailing behind him.

"Here." they stopped at the North Tower, "This place hasn't been used in Gods only know how long, but we've kept it dusted and tidy." he opened the door and before the group lay a spiral staircase. "Go on up, V." he smiled.

She didn't need telling twice, she hesitantly took a step up and let her eyes wander the scenery before her. There were stain glassed windows, shining spectrums in every direction as they walked up.

At the top of the stairs, there was an open area. Various computers, laptops, and a large work desk all sat on the left side of the room, all a metallic shade of silver. The walls were lined with CD cases, books, and DVDs, the walls were off-white, though you could hardly see it from the extreme amount of organized clutter on the shelves.

"Whoah…" she breathed, running her fingers over the equipment, "This is amazing! The technology is pretty old but… Still, I haven't seen anything like this! It's like a mini task force office!" she looked around, "I don't see a bed, however."

"Bedroom is behind that door." Near pointed over to the mahogany door in the far right corner.

She opened the door and gasped, "Oh my Gods…"

The bedroom was far more colorful than the work room. The floor was a dark wood with a red, regal carpet, while the walls were onyx. A queen-sized four-poster bed was positioned up against the wall in front of her, made of the same wood as the floor, but with silvers and blacks for the bedspread, sheets, and pillows.

CD cases were stacked on shelves above a lavish sound system, she noticed the little speakers in every corner of the ceiling.

An LCD TV, at least forty-five inches, was mounted on the wall behind her, so the owner could watch while they were in bed. Various remotes lay on the nightstand and placed inside the drawer.

"Do you like it?" Near chuckled.

She whirled around, completely excited, "Yes! Thank you Mr. River!" she threw her arms around him in a hug.

"I knew you would like it." he chuckled as she stepped back.

Antigone grinned in L and Light's direction, "Isn't it amazing?!" she took off her shoes and lay on the bed.

"Yes, very." L said attentively, "I wonder, Near, whose room was this?"

Near chuckled, "Antigone, this used to be L's room, while he was at Wammy's."

"Seriously?!" she shrieked, standing up and blushing, "Well at least I didn't insult his choice in furniture or something like that…" she put a hand behind her head, slightly embarrassed.

"Yes, at least you didn't." L grinned, "But, I would not blame you. My choice in colors isn't exactly that great… I might as well be color blind."

"It's simple, yet extremely complex." she replied thoughtfully, and then a smile formed over her face, "Like you!"

He nodded, "I'll take that as a compliment, _V." _

The couple locked eyes, almost like they were reading each other's minds.

_Perhaps, _L thought.

_Maybe… _Antigone concluded.

_**You can mix business with pleasure. **_a grin split over both of their faces.

...

G leaned on the door of Z's room, not trusting himself to go in any farther, "Do you know what V's schedule is, Z?"

"Not sure, why do you wanna know?" she raised an eyebrow as she licked her finger and extinguished the flame without a sign of pain.

"I wanna see what V's strengths and weaknesses are." he shrugged.

Her face fell, "I am _not _gonna let you attack her on her first real day here! She'll run out like Kira's at her heels!"

"What's so bad about that?" G feigned innocence.

"You do one thing to her and I _swear _on L's grave I will awaken _all _the spirits of Wammy's House and ask them to haunt you in your dreams!" her honey eyes flickered darkly.

"Geeze, I'm not gonna crush her."

"For your sake I hope you're right." she seethed, "Now get lost, you damn idiot."

He rolled his eyes as he walked out of the girl's room, "Yeah, yeah you damn pyro."

...

BB sighed as he placed his head on the table. "I can't believe we lost all traces of Antigone… She couldn't have taken the easy way out and killed herself with the notebook, right?" his blond hair had lost its sheen and those lethal amethyst eyes were jaded. They had worked nonstop that entire night to try to find one trace of her.

Paulie ran a hand through his now oily black hair, "I hope not," he muttered, "if she did, we wouldn't get our side of the bargain… and we'd be back at square one."

"Ryuuk?" BB tossed the Shinigami a glossy red apple, "Can you try to track down Snafu, and give us his location? Also: Give him this." he removed a black envelope from his coat's breast pocket, holding it with two fingers, "It's another clue." he grinned cockily.

Ryuuk chomped on the drug-like fruit eagerly, hiding the letter in his belt. "That can be arranged. I was wondering when you'd ask me for help." his trademark grin etched into his face.

"Don't take too long, or it'll be no fun…" BB's menacing smirk matched one of Kira's.

Paulie grimaced, "Where to next?"

"I think it's time to meet the family… Who spawned this pretty little problem." he flicked a picture out of his coat's side pocket.

It was the photograph of Antigone's thirteenth birthday, her hair was cropped short and she actually looked tan, despite her ivory-colored skin in the present-day. On either side were her parents, all smiles and joyful of their daughter's special day.

Her brother's eyes widened, "You want to- to _kill _my parents?!" he roared, "I draw the line at that!"

"More like walk the line." the mysterious blond murmured, "And whoever said I'd kill them? Your parents should be fine if the three meet my demands, if they don't… then we must wash our hands after this." he stashed the Death Note away into his suitcase and pushed himself away from the desk, grabbing the in-room phone the hotel had provided them, "Yes? I'd like to make an early checkout? Thank you." he hung up. "We're leaving." he looked over at Ryuuk, "Go!" he spat.

Leather-like wings spread and glided the creepiest Shinigami of all out into the bustling streets of Sicily, off to find his "friend". "This will cause the heart attack of the century, eh Raito?" he chuckled to himself as he picked up speed and moved closer to the horizon.


	16. Fscene8ing Games

_Fscene8ing Games_

Antigone let out a low sigh as she sat next to Z at the dinner table. The dining hall was more like a cafeteria, fourteen circular tables - most fitting five or six Wammy Kids at each - in an even larger circular pattern.

"…V!" Z waved a hand in front of our heroine's face, "You alright?"

"Y-yeah…" she sighed again and took a bite out of her lasagna.

"Seems like there's something on your mind." the olive-skinned pyro glanced over to another table, where Delilah was sitting and trading her dinner with the other girls.

"Nah, I'm just tired. That flight wore me out." she faked a yawn.

Truthfully, Antigone was wondering how her family was taking her sudden leave. Her mother was probably worried, her father most likely tried to track her by cell phone, _Which isn't possible being I traded in my phone and got a new one from Near. _

Paulie… _He's probably changed my room into a personal gym… Or perhaps a snack bar._

She glanced off to Near's table, where Light and L were standing behind him. L was eating a piece of red velvet cake, while Light downed a cup of coffee.

...

"Is she doing alright?" L looked to Light, taking another delicate bite out of the cake.

"You have eyes, what do you think?" he snapped.

"I just can't figure her out!" he whined.

"She's fine." Near said quietly, "She and Zigana seem to be getting along well."

The insomniac glanced over at the two teenaged girls, seeing the smiles lighting up their faces as they laughed and chatted.

...

Zigana laughed, "D is a little fireball, she's like my little sister."

"She's adorable!" Antigone gushed.

"I had a little sister, but she was always afraid of me… Because of my obsession with fire. There were candles in my bedroom, on the shelves. They flickered and danced inside their holders, different holders had different colors and it made a huge rainbow at night."

"That's gotta suck." she looked over at her new friend. "But the candles seem pretty." she smiled in reassurance.

"Near took me in because he knew I had potential, when I showed him my skills with fire… He was delighted."

"That's your talent; every kid has talent here, right?"

"Yes, exactly. D is an actress; she can change her voice on a dime. She's memorized all of the scripts in her bedroom- which is a LOT."

The freckle-faced girl's head lifted up and she waved enthusiastically.

The two laughed and waved in return. "Hi, D!"

Zigana's smile turned into a frown as G slipped a grey, pocket-sized book into D's pocket.

"What's wrong?" Antigone looked up and frowned as she realized who made her friend annoyed, "Oh… It's G."

"Yes." she hissed, stabbing her fork into her salad. "I hate him… so damn _much!" _she picked up her fork and began to chew, loudly.

The new girl stuffed her mouth with more lasagna, "What's the problem with you and him anyway?" she asked, all muffled by the contents in her mouth. She glanced over and noticed L was chuckling. _He's done it too, I bet…_

"He doesn't like the idea that I'm in line for N's successor despite the fact I have the lowest test scores in the house. He also doesn't like the fact I've burnt a few of his books…"

"So he's a bookworm?" Antigone glanced over at the boy.

"Yep." Z popped the 'p', "Photographic memory, his bedroom is his own personal library. He's at the top of the charts, no doubt."

"What a goody two shoes." the two friends snickered as they dumped their dinner into the trash chute.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning!" Z smiled happily, "G'night!" she pecked Antigone on the cheek.

"Night!" Antigone returned the gesture, and then glanced over to L and Light, nodding her head to get them to go upstairs with her.

The two nodded in return and bid Near goodnight, in which the man wished them a pleasant sleep.

...

Antigone threw the door open to her bedroom and collapsed onto the plush bed. "That went well."

"You and Miss Z seem to be along well." L said thoughtfully as he slipped on the bracelet again.

"She's awesome," his assignment nodded, glancing over at the drawer where her personal items had been placed before being called down for dinner.

Light tossed her a pair of pajamas and ran a hand through his hair. "That G kid is really pissing me off."

"How so, Light?" L replied as Antigone went behind the curtain to dress.

"He's such a smartass! Those kids sitting with him obviously have some sort of restraint on themselves; I'd have strangled him right before he opened his mouth!"

"Now you know how annoying it must've been for us to hear you complain at the Task Force."

A muffled laugh filled the room as she stepped out from behind the curtain, ready for bed. "You two have quite a bone to pick, eh?"

"Yes." the two "men" replied.

She clapped her hands together and looked over at L, "Is there anything I should know about this room? Or the office?"

"There are security cameras placed in the room, all over. You can view them at any time. Also," he opened up the various drawers, one by one, "There are clothes in here, unfortunately they're all mine." he smiled sheepishly, "We'll take you shopping in the morning."

"I have clothes in my suitcase though, so there's no need." she waved a hand, as if to swat away his last comment.

"Those clothes will not be of much use to you. Although, changing disguises as you work may be a good idea in the future…" he pressed a thumb to his lips.

"So I need one specific outfit while we're working?"

He nodded, "Yes. It makes everything simpler."

"Well, I think I'll look up a few things on the computer. L, can I have the SD card?"

He dug through his pockets and took the card by two fingers, "Here." he placed the little chip in the palm of her hand.

She immediately balled it into a fist, "Let's see what else this stupid bastard did… And if it could be possible BB will try his tactics…"

Light's face turned ghostly white, "I can fill in the blanks," he blurted out, causing both L and Antigone to turn around in shock. "I want to catch this fuck-up as much as you two do, maybe a little less. I can understand what it's like to lose someone close," _You killed your own damn _father! "I've been through it, and I can only imagine it'll happen to you too if BB is anything like me."

She scowled, turned to the dresser where her duffle was placed, and began to rummage through it.

"What are you doing in there?" he asked, exasperated.

A black notebook was flung at him square in the face, "I want you to tell me everything. Every person, how they died, what their punishment was, and how L died." her voice was smooth and demanding, "Tell me who you killed after he died, and how you died!" she began to shout.

He held his former Death Note in his hands, staring down at it dumbly. "Alright, sit down." he sighed.

For the next two hours, Light explained every question she had as the girl read over the files on the computer on the windowsill. L even put in his two cents when it came to certain questions.

She began to close the laptop until something caught her eye in the reflection of the screen, "Is that…?" she glanced up and scowled, "Ryuuk's here!"

L and Light glanced up and hurriedly began to open the window, barely managing to open it wide enough for Ryuuk to get in.

"Hey!" Ryuuk landed on solid ground and gave a creepy grin.

"I wish your wings were ripped off while trying to get in." Antigone grumbled.

"Oh that's kind." the older Shinigami rolled his eyes.

"I don't respect my elders," she retorted hotly. "Now what do you want?"

"Telegram from a Mr. BB." he tossed the familiar looking parchment into her lap.

She scowled and stood up, L and Light on either side of her as they tried to read.

_Antigone_

_It seems Ryuuk led me in a circle, right back to your birthplace. I told him to find you, because he's the only one who knows where you are at the moment. Don't worry, we'll meet again soon. Once Ryuuk gives me your location, the fight can begin again. But for now- look at the pictures enclosed, and memorize them. One of the pictures shows people deceased, and the other shows people that you _might _never see again. _

_Just follow the instructions on the back of the photos._

_-BB_

She gritted her teeth in anger. "…Damn bastard."

She snatched up the pictures with anguish-filled eyes, "Uncle Ventous and Aunt Jena…" the picture of their wedding day. "Mom and Dad…" she choked out, a simple picture of the three of them together on her thirteenth birthday, "No. Fucking. Way."

L raised a finger, but bit his lip into silence. _She has to do this on her own._

She glanced back up and smirked at the Shinigami, "Tell him I wait with bated breath for his next trick. Tell him I'm ready to take up any challenge he throws at me." she waved a hand in his direction, her voice feigning innocence. "I really think he could've done a better job. Sending a Shinigami to do his dirty work?" her voice became sickeningly sweet. "How cliché and immature." she sneered, hiding it behind a hand.

_**I'm laughing at this battle  
Watching boys and girls play games.  
I watch you as you slowly falter  
And how you strive for any status at all!**_

"Technically it's not me, it's BB. I'm just a messenger boy."

"Boy indeed." that mocking sneer was plastered on her face again.

"Well, read over the instructions and we'll be seeing you soon." his sneered matched hers, if not overpowered it. "By the way- Paulie misses you." and with that, he jumped over the side of the window and glided off.

She glanced back at L and bit her lip, "L?"

He sighed sadly and pulled her into his arms, trying to make her feel any better. He wasn't accustomed to comforting young women, but it must've been working because her breath was evening out. "Don't worry, A, everything will be alright."

"You can't promise that." she gazed up at him, her eyes filled with sadness.

"I can try though, can't I?" he smiled warily.

"Listen to this!" Light shouted, waving his hand over to them, "The first one, the wedding picture, says: You must go to D.C., or he cannot guarantee the safety of your family. L is not allowed to accompany us, as he may have an upper hand being BB cannot see him. He has a date planned for you and Paulie to meet again- a week from tonight at Gate 54... Where's that?" he looked up at her with a look of confusion.

"It's a club," she mumbled, "under a famous bistro in D.C."

"The second card said that if you don't abide by these plans… He's gonna kill you. Death Note or not."

She blinked, and murmured something under her breath, "Then I need to kill myself…" she glanced up at L, "You know a lot about faking deaths right?"

L looked over at Light with a slight nod, "We had to fake a co-worker's death during the Kira case. We can do it again, I'm positive."

Antigone let out a sigh of relief, "Well, I guess Vendetta will be a full time alias after next week."

"Which means we'll need to change your appearance. Let's go change your clothes tomorrow. After that we'll get your hair colored, and I'll purchase colored contacts tonight." L counted off on his fingers.

"We'll search the clothes tonight, while you're buying the contacts." Light interjected, "You're not tired at all, are you?"

"Nope!" she shrugged, "It's only nine o'clock."

A rap on the door hushed the three in an instant, "V, may I come in?"

It was G, and for whatever reason he wanted to talk to her.

"I'm not decent!" she shouted in reply, and then turned over to L with a pleading look.

He nodded and stripped the bracelet off his wrist, stuffing it into his pocket.

She opened the door and frowned, "What do you want, G?"

He smiled hopefully. "I was wondering… if you'd like to take a tour around the House." _More like crumble you into an emotional heap but-_

"Don't have much time, Near's already piling me up with a case…" she looked back at L and grimaced.

His eyes widened, "Seriously?! Which one?!"

"The BB case." she replied easily, snapping her head around.

He rose a flaming red eyebrow "But that one's been solved- by the great L himself!"

She suppressed a smile, "He wants me to look over a few things- he told me on our way over here I could pass for his daughter if I wanted to."

"Yeah you could, kinda scary if you ask me." he mumbled.

"THAT'S IT!" L and Light shouted in unison, making Antigone jump in surprise.

_**Well the night is so young  
She's got her mini skirt on  
Hot damn that girl's on fire  
The boy just wants to get off  
And she just needed a fix  
Let's see how far this gets you. **_

G feigned a concerned, yet a generally confused, expression. "You alright?"

"My phone is on vibrate, kind of took me by surprise." she smiled, "Look, I've got to go. The call is probably important, being it's being sent to my personal number." she didn't even wait for his reply when she slammed the door in his face and locked it behind her. She slid down the door and collapsed into a heap.

L and Light walked up to her, Light helping her up while L slipped the annoying black bracelet on again.

"We can make you my daughter!" L smiled brightly, "We'll say that I donated sperm a few weeks before I died and someone took it up after all these years! Vendetta Marie Lawliet! It's perfect!"

"Are you sure?" she glanced over at the drawer filled with L's regular attire, a smile forming over her lips, "I think a little redesigning is in order… What do you say?"

He grinned, "Excellent choice, daughter dearest."

For the remainder of the night, the three cut, hemmed, and tore up L's clothing to match Antigone's needs.

Low-cut, V-neck shirts were the outcome, along with pairs of, now completely destroyed, denim shorts that reached mid-thigh.

"Well, let's get some sleep. We'll full proof the suicide idea in the morning." L said quietly.

The other two nodded and Antigone began to speak, "Light, you may leave for the night." she nodded in recognition, "Goodnight, L." she walked over and stood on her toes, wrapped her arms around L in a hug, and then kissed him chastely on the cheek.

He didn't release her; instead he tightened his grip on her and brushed his lips against her ever so softly and cautiously.

She kissed back, to the former detective's surprise and pleasure, and ran her fingers through his tousled hair.

After a few moments of chaste kissed, he bit her bottom lip, gently enough to tell her what he wanted. She opened her mouth and he let his almost extinct instincts take control, exploring her mouth with his tongue and trying to catch her essence. _Vanilla… and mint?_

A low moan drawled out of her mouth as she gripped onto his shirt and pulled them both down onto the bed.

L bit back a moan of his own, his lips connecting to her neck and sucking greedily.

"L…" she breathed, "S-stop!" she pushed herself away as much as she could, much to her dismay L was far stronger than he looked.

"Antigone…" he breathed and stepped back, "Do you know what I'm trying to say?"

"You want me?" she said between pants, her cheeks completely flushed and lips bruised.

"No," he shook his head and kissed her one more time, "silly girl." he pushed the blankets up and over her frame, "I'm saying…" _I think I'm in love with you. Just say it! __**It isn't that easy! There's high percentile she won't return my feelings! **_

It was too late. Antigone yawned, cutely at that, and nuzzled her face into the nape of his neck. She was out like a light, yet again.

He smiled softly and removed his shirt, revealing his lean sculptured body. "I can take this for now, A." he wrapped his arms around her and lay themselves down gently.

All too soon were L Lawliet and Antigone Jones breathing in sync, enjoying each other's company- even if they weren't awake.

What was so interesting was L actually didn't mind being asleep- in fact: it was the best eight hours of his eternal life. And all because he finally did something he always wanted to say.

_**I kissed a girl and I liked it.**_


	17. No Trying, Some Findings

**_I have returned!!! Gomenesai!! *bows repeatedly* all of my lovely fans/reviewers do not give up hope i have inspiration! Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter that has been FINALLY finished after six months of it being left in the MW folder!_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any pieces of music in this chapter. Antigone, the Joneses, and fictional Wammy kids are (C)Relinquished-Time_**

* * *

I let out a small sigh as I wandered around Wammy's House. It was still early, around three or four, and I had found myself wrapped in L's arms when I woke. _He kissed me and he was about to say something… But what was it? Or did he not say it at all? _I took the bracelet off to get out of his grasp, but decided to lie it in his palm before leaving the room.

The halls were decorated with fine paintings and cherry wood doors and the parlors were filled with lavish furniture in various white leathers. I noticed in the main parlor held a black grand piano near the gothic windows. My composure relaxed at a familiar figure, even if it was an instrument I hadn't touched in a few months.

"_Practice your skills, Antigone Marie." the piano instructor told me gently, I was only ten. _

_My father was leaning in the corner with Mom, half paying attention to my lessons and half entertaining her. Mom was humming a tune while he played his sly trombone, his prized possession- well, second to Mom. He said she was the best thing that ever happened to him. _

_So I played like a good little girl, running my fingers up and down the ivory keys. And then something came to me as I practiced, one of the songs Mom had played for Dad when I was little. _The Abandoned Island.

_So, without any thought, I began to play the first few measures. The teacher looked at me with shock, and Dad's trombone had gone silent by now._

"_Was that…?" Mom smiled at me, "The Abandoned Island?"_

_I nodded and the teacher scowled, "You aren't ready for full pieces of music. We'll start with the basics and work our way up from there!"_

The piano teacher never came back and Mom taught me from there on in. She taught all of these amazing songs, though we stopped playing together after I turned seventeen. Dad even helped in a few lessons afterwards, but usually I would play to myself when everyone was away. That's what I used to do, before all of _this _happened.

I smiled to myself and sat down on the piano bench, ran my fingers over the keys fondly. I closed my eyes and let my fingers press down for a second before starting up the next chord. Mom's heeding words of advice rang in my ears, while Dad laughed and chastised her about babying me. They both urged me to continue playing.

So I played for a moment- or maybe an hour. I retained my mother's lessons like a sponge soaking water. From _Blind Justice_ to _River Flows in You_, I remembered every song I had ever heard them play.

I tensed and lost my note when the soft padding of feet came closer to the parlor, "V? Are you in here?" L's head full of black hair popped into the hallway, my shoulders slumped and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Did I frighten you? I apologize." he quirked an eyebrow at me.

"No, it's fine." I faked a smile, "I just couldn't sleep after I woke up."

"I was worried where you could have wandered off to." his thumb had been placed to his pale pink lips, "Honestly I was…" he looked up at me and I locked myself in his gaze. I could not tell where his iris began and his pupil ended they were so black. He coughed, "Vendetta?" he waved a hand in front of my face.

I shook my head and tried to put on a good front, "Sorry, I almost dozed off there."

He shook his head with a frown, "Has anyone told you that you are a terrible liar?" he cocked his head to the side, "What is troubling you?" he sat next to me on the piano bench, "I heard someone playing, you see, and I wondered who could remember such old songs. They were from the early 00s. I recall hearing children play those songs while I was on holiday. Some were from video games, others from musical compositions…" he glanced at me, "Who played those in your family?"

"My mom." I shrugged automatically, and like I was on autopilot I told him everything, "So the pianist never came back and my mother taught me herself. I always loved a good challenge."

He chuckled, "And you don't now?" he hit middle C, "You wouldn't have taken up this challenge if you had the choice, I mean?"

"Probably not…" my voice trailed off as I tapped the keys to _Always on My Mind. _

"I do not blame you, any sane person would say no."

I shrugged, "Well, maybe I'm not sane? Maybe I'm a better liar than you think."

His face contorted for a second, "What do you plan to do?"

"I'm going to be V, and we'll take it from there. I'll hold a reputation high enough that I can take on tracking BB without any complications from anyone else."

"That could take years to do, Antigone." he said lowly, "We don't have that much time."

"Then be my mentor, give me hints of what to do and what to say." I grit my teeth. "Whatever it takes to keep my family safe. To keep me out of the line of fire."

He sucked in his breath, and what seemed to be a rude remark, "Antigone, we'll try our best, okay?"

I hissed, "We need to do, not try!" I pounded my hands on the keys, a clashing chord made me wince, "There is no try in this!"

He sighed and turned on his heel to leave, "You know, I really hoped this would have never happened." he shook his head and mumbled something under his breath and I groaned in defeat.

_You're such help, L. _I rose from the piano bench and walked through the rest of the house, stopping in the kitchen to place my head on the table. _So tired…_

Another figure stepped out of the shadows and smiled a me softly, "You're ruled by the moon too?"

"Huh?" I raised my head to find a girl with dark purple hair and multiple nose and ear piercings on her face, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Amai, I can talk to spirits." she smiled, "Children of the moon have special gifts, I wonder what yours is…" she pondered this for a second.

"You can talk to spirits?" I raised an eyebrow. I should have expected that, but everything seemed so surreal that I was taken aback.

"I can see them too!" she grinned broadly, "There have been two spirits lurking around Wammy's since I was brought here when I was five."

I didn't remember meeting her when I first met everyone, so I grew suspicious, "How old are you?"

"Twenty," she shrugged, "I visit from time to time, make sure Mello and Matt are not scaring the kids too much. I know Zigana is always swearing on them that something bad will happen to Graduation, and Mello is always trying to help her."

"Can Z see spirits too?" I asked softly.

"They are attracted by the fire, that's how their bodies were disposed of, by being lit on fire." she sighed with a sad expression and walked over to a drawer, lifting a candle and a match out and placing them on the counter. "But they do not fear it, they welcome it, for whatever reason. I never ask that type of stuff."

"What are you gonna do?" the hesitance in my voice was clear.

"I'm going to attract Mello and Matt, see if they can be of any assistance to me. I heard someone talking, someone not of this world, earlier tonight. I want to know if they can tell me who it is." she struck the match swiftly, dropped it and watched with happiness as the wood turned to ashes. "The ashes give out a stronger aroma, they'll be able to make a trail into the kitchen." she explained.

I nodded a little, _Is L the spirit? Will Matt and Mello rat me out? _

She looked up at the ceiling and whispered something under her breath and she took a deep breath, eyes fluttering open and close and glazing over.

I backed away until I heard a soft giggle escape her lips, "Hello, Mello."

I felt the hairs on my back stand scared stiff.

She giggled again, but then became extremely serious, "There's another lost soul, I don't know who it is, have you heard it?" she nodded as "Mello" and "Matt" spoke, her eyes flew open, "You don't mean?!" she gasped, "L has returned?!"

She glanced in my direction, "Can you seem them?" she asked gravely.

I shook my head, "Not at all."

"They're saying you're the other voice I heard earlier, the woman's voice." her stare was intense and if I looked at her I feared I would turn to stone. "The spirits saw you conversing, so get on with your confession."

I sighed and glared up at where I thought Mello and Matt would be, "Yes. I make contact with L. He's my Guardian Angel because I own a Death Note."

The candle blew out and she hissed loudly, "The very notebook that killed them!" she reached across the table to grab the hem of my nightshirt in a blind rage, knocking over the candle and having it smash into tiny shards of wax and glass. "Witch, bastard, Shinigami!" she shrieked at me, spitting in my face and chanting spells in a language I had never heard before.

Then a heard a small chuckle, I pulled myself away from Amai to find Light laughing with such vigor I wanted to beat him over the head.

Amai recoiled and screamed, "S-Shinigami!!" she pointed at him and he just smirked, "Demon! Be gone!"

"I actually wanted to ask a question…" he shrugged, "About a certain soul I've been looking into…"

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow, "A victim that you killed, perhaps?"

He let out a small chuckle, "Actually, yes, his name… is Beyond Birthday."


	18. UPDATE! READ BITTE!

Okay, people, we've got a tiny problem and it's been going on for quite some time. I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating as promised and I'm sure all of you have forgotten the story completely but...

My laptop died and took all of my mafia note documents with it to the grave, along with the nearly finished next chapter, which is unfortunately lost. Keep your heads for a little while longer and I'll try to revive it and put it up soon. And… School was a huge problem too this year, and I got grounded so that has to do with the dropping off the face of the Earth act as well. But summer is here and I will be glued to the notebook and Microsoft Works!

Keep me going and give me ideas!


	19. Well, This is Awkward

I have returned once again! *crawls out from under the bed* Heh ^_^' Sorry people summer is still busy with my friends, family, and... my boyfriend ^_^' bad excuse for my procrastiantion, I know, but better late than never! Please R&R if you don't mind :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Death Note

Antigone, Amai, and other OCs (C) Relinquished-Time

* * *

Amai blinked once, twice, three times, "How did he die?" she swallowed thickly.

"I killed him." Light shrugged.

"No I knew that, but _how?" _she gritted her teeth.

"I don't know, you know how many people I've killed?" he laughed.

The older girl's left eye twitched and her lips were starting to as well.

"Okay, okay! I killed him by a heart attack; I had no reason to make some special death for him because he had no meaning to me. He was apart of my daily killing spree." he raised his hands in surrender.

She nodded solemnly, "What prison was he apart of?"

Antigone bit her lip and tugged, "An asylum in London, Bedlam was it, Light?" she glanced up at him for conformation.

His eyes flickered with excitement, "Yes, that's right." he got on his knees and began to pick up the shattered glass and molten wax. "Miss Amai, you'd have to use blood to attract him."

She furrowed her brows together, "Good…" she held out her hand, "Give me your wrist, girl." Antigone was hesitant, but it made no difference, Amai took her by the wrist anyway and pushed a syringe inside of her with a hiss of disdain. "Would you rather have me slit your wrists?" the younger girl shook her head in a panic, "Then don't complain." she popped out the syringe, now filled to the brim with B positive blood and plasma, and sprayed half of it into a Petri dish. "Okay, we've got that. Now…" she sprayed the rest around the table in a circle and lit another match. "Don't move, any of you." she warned and she dropped the match over the blood circling the dish. The table reeked of metal and smoke but no one complained because they knew it would get the ghost of BB's attention.

But no such luck. Amai couldn't read anything on it. But then Antigone had an idea, "Hey, what was BB's favorite thing here?"

"Strawberry jam-?"

Antigone rushed into the cabinet and pulled out a jar of Smucker's strawberry jam, scooped a good handful of it over her fingers and sprinkled it into the flames, the aroma was potent. "This could help…"

And she was right, BB's ghost appeared, curled up in a ball floating over the flames licking his fingers, "Ooh, you're back…" he pointed at Antigone with a shaking finger. "I knew you'd be needing my help, L…"

She gripped the collar of her shirt tight. "I'm not L, I'm V."

His eyes glimmered with twisted joy, he wheezed a chuckle, "Hehehe… That's not what _these _tell me." he pointed at his blood red eyes, "You're neither L nor V!"

Amai's face hardened, "What do you mean neither L nor V?" she cast a glare at the deranged criminal.

"I see another name to this pretty face." Light and Antigone's eyes were wide as saucers, "Anti-"

"V?" a tired voice called, "What are you doing down here so late?" it was Zigana stumbling into the spacious kitchen with a sleeve rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "I heard you from all the way upstairs, what is going on-?" her mouth dropped open, "Amai, I thought you said you would be coming in a couple of weeks!" she cried in a hushed whisper.

"Things change when your friends from beyond the grave jolt you out of your sleep the morning previous, Zigana." the older woman replied.

She glanced over at Antigone, "You need to get to bed, it's three in the morning." she took the older girl by the hand and began to walk back upstairs

"Z, I can't." she sighed, "I have to stay."

"What?"

"Amai is trying to help me with something and I'd rather you not get sucked into this as well." she bit her lip again, "Please, Z, don't make me drag you back up there."

The pyro nodded reluctantly, waved goodnight to her friend and her mentor, and went back up the spiral staircase.

BB wheezed out another laugh, "You confuse me, L nor V."

Antigone bit back another remark, "I am V. No one else."

"Again, not what _these _tell me!" he cackled.

"Then what do they tell you?" Light interjected.

"A girl named Antigone Jones, who has less than a month to live." BB grinned wide.

Everyone's breath was caught in their throat. And then they heard a creak behind them.

It was L, eyes sunken with deprivation of sleep and abundance of stress. "How long does she have, Beyond?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Another wheeze of laughter, "Less than a month, I cannot say more!"

The angel pushed Amai and Antigone aside to get straight in his doppelganger's face, "Can it be lengthened, Beyond?"

"The way you are going, no!" he was far too excited to speak of her death.

"What must we do?"

BB blinked, "You truly want my help, Lawliet?"

L nodded as he suppressed a cringe, "Because if this is the case, there will be another lethal man with the alias of BB."

BB blinked again, "Who would want such an alias?"

"One who thinks he can get a reputation behind him before he even does something." Light whispered.

BB's attention snapped to Light and the dying girl, "Do you know the man's face?" they shook their heads, "No? Well, then we are in quite a pickle, are we not?" they nodded, "You know, Lawliet," he put his attention back to L, "creatures from beyond the Realm of the Living can die too."

L raised an eyebrow, "How so, Beyond?"

"It's difficult, but it can be done. Get them to say their name- their _human name_ and then one of the Five Unbreakable Codes."

"How is this difficult?" Antigone asked herself.

"Many Shinigami have been around since the birth of sin itself and have no memory of their human lives much less their name." BB answered her, "Guardian Angels will know their human name, but not the Five Unbreakable Codes. Usually it's because they do not learn those codes when in Limbo unlike Shinigami."

"What about spirits like you and Matt and Mello?" Amai interjected.

"We know both, but we cannot die for we are already dead-"

"Wait- are you saying that Shinigami and Guardian Angels are technically alive?" Light cried.

"Technically they are neither alive nor dead, your kind have both advantages of living and dying. Once your task in this life is completed then you have the ability to either take the road you were supposed to when you died originally or be reborn."

Antigone nodded, "Okay that makes sense. So Shinigami just choose to be the way they are because they're fucked either way."

BB smiled wide again, "I could make a fantastic Shinigami because I am fucked either way. Of course, there is always another way to be rid of us. I could just let my soul rest and give up everything else."

"Then sleep, Beyond." L growled.

"Well, then, someone's in a rush to bury the hatchet. But I don't wanna, you're on your own!" and with that he disappeared.

"…Bastard." the natural onyx-eyed man hissed.


	20. Live in TwentyThree

Holy crap has it really been nearly two years?! Hi guys! (searches for signs of life) I know you all have probably forgotten about my little story Mafia Note BUT! After seeing how you all enjoyed it so very long ago I think I owe it to you guys to write at least a few more chapters and give you guys a happy ending :3 it's been so long I'm actually rereading it to see where I should go with it! To keep your interest peaked; I have a teeny teeny tiny excerpt from what will be the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Antigone let out a huge yawn and sat up in bed, replaying all that had happened what felt like ages ago, even though it was only a few short hours back. "Light… Light?" she sighed, "Jackass. L?" she called as she tried to get her bearings- L liked soft things, the mattress was of a particularly squishy memory foam and the size of it could have easily swallowed her whole if she lay correctly.

No answer.

She made a quick change into her new wardrobe and crept downstairs, unaware the house was in full swing by then and was also unaware she had slept through breakfast and nearly lunch until she saw the dining tables in a disarray of slimy silverware and china with crumbs. As if on cue, she piled plates into her arms and made a quick dash for the kitchen through the swinging double doors. She smiled a little, "Like the kitchen back in Sicily-" she frowned. "No, not gonna talk about that. You're V-"

"Not L or Antigone?" a giggly whisper filled the desolate kitchen.

She sighed, putting the china in the restaurant-grade washer carefully, "Thought you weren't coming back, oh stupid BB."

His giggles grew, "And miss all the fun? I don't think so~!"

She shot a glare, voice still cool, "I have a month, you said?"

He laughed, "Is that what I said?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, that's what you said." she threw down the case to the washer, it whirring to life. "Look, if you don't have anything helpful to say, get out. You're worse than Light, in fact _far worse_ than Light."

He squealed with delight, "I don't have to do what you say, L nor-"

"Beyond," a new voice called out and his bloody orbs widened. Antigone's gaze shot through his wispy frame to see Amai, the strange woman from the night before, standing at the double doors. "Get out." and he did.

Antigone smiled, "Hey, thanks so much." she made her way for the doors, "I really owe y-" the older clutched the younger's arm. "What?"

"You have to leave."

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean I "have to leave"?"

"You have less than a month to live, the way you're going, if BB was truly honest with you- maybe less if he wasn't, I'm not taking any chances. Plus, I need to keep Z and D safe; you're not a good thing here. You seem nice enough, but there's too much danger." her voice never faltered, eyes still flickering with adrenaline.

"Look, I have nowhere else to go, money is tight, and L and Light are trying their best to figure out where our opponents could have gone. But if I have to go, fine, I'll go." she snatched her arm back.

"No one is safe anymore thanks to you. Less than a day here and you're already causing trouble. I know Master N won't leave you in the dark, he'll supply you with whatever you need and God forbid anything else happen you could come back- when the threat isn't as strong." Amai glowered.

Upstairs, out of ear and eyeshot L stood in the doorway of the bedroom, Light on the windowsill, his wings receding. "So what's going on?"

"Ventous and Jena are dead. We have to move. Fast."

"Well, Light-kun, what do you propose to do about the staged suicide?"

"Let us introduce V first. We need a criminal to pose as her-"

"This sounds very-"

"Similar to what you did to rat me out?" Light grinned. "Because it's the exact same thing. I already found a girl we could use. Victoria Eliza Smith. She's on death row for conspiracy with a homegrown terrorist organization. Near is getting in contact with the prison as we speak."

L gave a small smirk of his own, "When he kills her, everyone will be aware of the task at hand. That's just what we need. However, it's difficult when you know your killer isn't in a specific region."

He was about to go on, but Antigone ran upstairs, "I'm not going to explain everything, but I think we all know what must be done." she glanced at the two of them, slightly breathless.

He gave a quick, reassuring grin, "We're going to play a little game, V." he pulled open a drawer and handed her a beige, worn document, "Make this sound as calm, but threatening as possible. We go live in twenty-three hours, twenty-two minutes, and thirty-one, thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…."


End file.
